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‘ a and PERPETUITY of the Abrahamic covenaift 
a motive to ny exertion. 


SERMON 


PREACHED BEFORE 


MASSACHUSETTS MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
AT THEIR 


ANNUAL MEETING, 


MAY 30, 1815: 


BY PETER SANBORN, A. M. 


PASTOR OF THE SOUTH CHURCH IN READING, 


BOSTON: 
PRINTED BY SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, 
. THEOLOGICAL PRINTER AND BOOKSELLER, No, 50, CORNHILE.. 


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SERMON. 


GeNEsIS xxii, 16—18. 

=—BY MYSELF HAVE I SWORN, SAITH THE LORD, FOR BECAUSE 
THOU HAST DONE THIS THING, AND HAST NOT WITHHELD 
THY SON, ee SON: THAT IN BLESSING 1 WILL 
BLESS THEE; AND IN MULTIPLYING I WILL MULTIPLY THY 
SEED, AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN, AND AS THE SAND WHICH IS 
UPON THE SEA SHORE, AND THY SEED SHALL POSSESS THE 
GATE OF HIS ENEMIES, AND IN THY SEED SHALL ALL THE 
NATIONS OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED. 


THE jnind of man is soon weary of conjecture, faints and 
relaxes in view of uncertainty of obtaining the desired object. 
To this principle of the human mind, all the promises and 
prophecies in the sacred volume are addressed.—The moré 
certain the husbandman of a plentiful harvest, the more 
cheerfully he sows the precious seed.—So of the fisherman, 
the merchant and the navigator. The more certain the soldier 
of victory, the more it nerves his arm and fires his heart. 


Jehovah had repeatedly said to Abraham, «I will bless thee 
and make thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand on 
the sea shore for multitude.” But the promise of a son had 
been so long delayed, the accomplishment seemed uncertain, 


and his faith began to stagger, and his mind to despond. 


The antediluvian world had been swept away for their athe- 
ism, and those pernicious crimes which are the certain har- 
vest of infidelity. The descendants of Noah had made to 
themselves lords many and gods many. Polytheism was 


301500 


: 


4 


spreading with amazing rapidity. Nimrod had begun the 
walls of Babylon, and most of the families of the earth, un- 
willing to retain God in their knowledge, were bewildering . 
themselves in the endless labyrinths of idolatry, == 


At this time God called Abraharh to leave alll that was dear 


~ in his native country, and sojourn ina strange land; that the 


faithful patriarch and family might be insulated from the 
rising tide of idolatry; and that among his chosen posterity 
Jehovah might deposit his word; to whom ‘were to pertain the 
adoption; and the glory, and the covenant, ahd the ‘giving of 
the ‘law, and the service of God an, promises, ‘and’of 
whom, ‘as Conceriiing tlie flesli, the fessiat a 
aiid that the knowledge of the true G& img) 
the world. 


The covenant fransaction noted in my text had Been ii a 
train of completion for about fifty years; but on this menio- 
rable occasion it was completed by the most solemn oath of 
Jehovah, which put .an end to all doubt. As the final lest 
of Abr: alam”: s obedience and condition of the establishinent of 
the covenant of grace with him, God commanded the p patr rial arc 
198 go. and § sacrifice lus son, his only son Isaac, whom he lo ell, 
on a mountain, which Jehovah would designate. Abra na 
cheerfully obeyed; on the third day he reached the aw ful spot 
on ‘Thount “nth ‘erected the altar, laid the wood i orde 
bound. 1 his” son, stretched out his hand to take the knife —At 
this interesting moment, «the angel of the Lord call di 
Abraham out of heaven and said, Lay not thy hand upon | 
lad, neither do thoua any thing unto him, for now I know ‘ 
thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, ‘thine 
only son, from me.”—On this affecting occasion, God gave 
Abraham the complete : and x Ran 3 confirmation of that 
gracious covenant, so long ; proposed, so often renewed, and so 
long a ago sealed by circumcision, but now was confirmed by an® 
oath.—«For when God made. promise to Abraham, because 
he could swear by no greater, he swear by himself, saying, 
Sur ely, blessing I will bless thee; and multiplying I will mul- 


5 

tiply thee. And so, After he Wad patiently endured, he'db- 
tained the promise. For men, verily, swear by the greater; 
and an oath for confirmation, is to them an end of all strife.— 
Wliereiit, God Willing move abundantly to shew unto thé heirs 
of promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by 
an oath. That by two immutable things, in which it was im- 
possible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, 
Who lave fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before 
us.??—In the above connexion, the angel of the Lord called to 
Abraham, the second time, as in my text, and said, «By my- 
Self have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done 
this thine; and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that 
ih bléssing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will méilti- 
ply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand whick 
is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his 
enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth 
be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” From this 
fruitful portion of scripture, we shall select the following 


DOCTRINE 


The eatent and perpetuity of the Abrahamic cov enant fur- 
nishes abundant cause for MISSIONARY exertions. 


The truth and certainty of this covenant is settled in the 
text, beyond all doubt, strife or controversy, by the oath of 
God. «Because God could swear by no greater, he swear by 
himself.” 


All the promises previously given to Abraham had been 
formed into a covenant; that covenant had been sealed and 
repeatedly confirmed: The oath of God, therefore, on this 
occasion, pledged the honor of his whole name, as surety for 
the fulfilment of its promises, to Abraham and all concerned, 
to its utmost extent. The way therefore is open to proceed— 


I. To point out the extent and perpetuity of this covenant. 
And, 


301500 


6 


IJ. That it furnishes abundant cause for missionary exer-. 
tions. Ssh 
I. I am to point out the extent. and perpetuity of the Abra- 


14 


hamic covenant. pte 


This covenant is that Gospel net which is ultimately to encom- 
pass all the nations and famulies of the earth; and its be gees 
will be commensurate with ie tais ; 

“When Jehovah first appeared to Abraham to propose this 
covenant, he opened to him its eatent. «And I will make of 
thee a great nation; and I will bless thee and make thy name 
great. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him 
that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth 
be blessed.” (Gen. xii.) After Abraham had separated from 
Lot, (xili,) the extent of the covenant is again presented to 
Abraham. «And the Lord said to Abram—Lift up now 
thine eyes and look from the place where thou art, northward 
and southward, and eastward and westward. For all the 
land which thou scest, to thee will I give it; and to thy seed 
forever.—And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; 
so that ifa man can number the dust of the earth, then shall 
thy seed also be numbered.” 


But after the memorable defeat of the four eastern kings, 
and driving them beyond the bounds of the promised land: 
- after giving tythes fo, and receiving blessings from Melchise- 
dec, king of Saicm, priest of the most high God. Here I 
would observe, his scene appears to be typical of the final 
defeat the spiritual seed of Abraham will give the four great 
monarchies, ov *beasts;” an® of the glory they will ascribe 
to, and of the final blessing the saints will receive from Him, 
of whom Melchisedec. was but a type.* After this memorable 
scene, (Genesis xv,) “Behold the werd of the Lord came 
unjo him, (Abrahaim,) and he brought him forth abroad, and 


* Sec Note at the end. 


~ 
é 


: said, look now toward heaven, and #eil the stars, if thou be 
able to number them; and he said unto him, so shall thy 
seed be.” 


But the perpetuity of the covenant is more fully exhibited 
in Genesis xvii. «When Abraham was ninety years old and 
nine,—*“The Lord appeared and said unto him, I am the 
Almighty God: walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I 
will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multi- 
ply thee exceedingly. Abraham,”’ overwhelmed with this 
majestic appearance of God all-sufficient, «fell on his face: and 
God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold my covenant 
is with thee, and thou shalt bea father of many, (a multi- 
tude of) nations.”—<<Neither shall thy name any more be 
called Abram, but thy name shall be Jbraham, fer a father of 
many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee ex- 
ceeding fruitful: and I will make nations of thee, and kings 
shall come out of thee.. And I will establish my covenant be- 
tween me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their genera- 
tions, for an everlasting covenant; to be a God unto thee, and 
to thy seed after thee.” This covenant secures to Abraham, 
and all his spiritual seed, God for their eternal portion and 
blessedness, 


To Isaac, Jehovah said, (Genesis xxvi,) «I will perform 
the oath which I sware to Abraham, thy father.’*—« Because 
he obeyed my voice and kept my charge.” This same cove- 
nant God ratified with Jacob, when he changed his name to 
Israel. (Genesis xxxv.) 


On that joyful day, when David brought up the ark of 
God and placed it in Jerusalem, in the midst of the bappy 
tribes of Israel; a lively type of that beioutee day, when “the 
tabernacle of God shall be with men,”—David tizen delivered 
this Psalm, (1 Chron. xvi,) into the hand of Asaph and his 
brethren to celebrate the faithfulness of God in performing 
his promise to Abraham. «O ye seed of Israel,—Be ye" 
mimdful always of his covenant, the word which be command- 


ed to.a thousand generations, Even of; the. covenant, “whi 
he made with Abraham and.of his, oath unto Isaacs, and | 
confirmed the same, unto Jacob for a law, and to Iara fos 
an everlasting covenant.” (Psalm cv.) ‘. 


As we look down the vale of prophetic vision, the extent of 
this covenant widens in prospect, «All the ends. of the 
earth,” said David, (Psalm xxii,) «shall remember and turn - 
unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shalk wov- 
ship before thee.”*—sIn that day,” said the sublime. Isaiah, 
(xi, xlix, Ix,) there shall be a root of Jesse, which shalkstand 
for an ensign of the people; to it shall the. Gentile seek, and 
his vest shall be glorious. It is a light thing that then 
shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and 
restore the preserved of Israel.-—E will also give thee for a 
light to the Gentiles, that thon mayest be my salvation tothe 
ends of the earth.—Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and 
the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Andthe Gentiles 
shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness ef thy 
vismg. Thy gates shall be open continually; they shalknot — 
be shut day nor night; that men may bring unte thee the 
forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought? 

« We Shes Ways 

But the Gospel opens to our view, a “river” of merciful 
promises bursting away all barriers, bearing down the middle 
wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, overflowmg and 
fertilizing the whole Gentile werld. There is neither Jew 
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither 
male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus, And if 
ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according - 
to the promise.” Hence said Paul, addressing himself to the — 
Gentiles of Ephesus (ii.) «Now, therefore, ye are no more — 
strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, 
and of the household of God. | And are built upon the foun- 
dation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being 
the chief corner stane, in whom all the building, fitly framed 
together, groweth into an holy temple in the Lord?) 6) ©) 


cry 


9 


Among the last things, noted in my text, secured in the 
covenant with Abraham, is that his seed shall possess the 
gate of his enemies.” Of this promise, says Daniel, (Wii,) 
describing “the fourth beast.” «He shall speak great words 
against the Most High; and think te change times end laws, 
and they shall be given info his hand, until a time, and times, 
and the dividing of time:—But the judgment shall sit, and 
they shall take away his dominion.”—Then follows Daniel’s 
view of the eactent and perpetuity of the covenant with Abraham. 
«And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the 
‘kingdom, under the whale heavey, shall be given to the peo- 
ple of the-saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an ever- 
Jasting kingdom; and all dominions shall serve and ebey 
him. The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, 
and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” 


_ Werwill take but one view more of theextent and perpetuity 
yf the Abrahamic covenant; and that shall be the one 
given us by John, the last inspired writer, and whose pro- 
phetic vision of it was most extensive and glorious:—«And I 
-heard,” says he, «a great voice out of heaven, saying, Be- 
hold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell 
with them, and they shall be his people, and’God himself shall 
he with them, and be their God. And ‘God shall wipe away 
all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, 
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more 
pain, for the former things are passed away.” How expand- 

il the apostle’s view! «And he carrieil me away in:the spit, 

to a.sreat and high mountain, and ‘showed me that great 
city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. — 
Having the glory of God; and her light-was like unto a stone 
most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as Chrystal. 

And had a wall great and high, and had tzelve gates, and iat 
the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are 
the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Zsrael:” How 
interesting the prospect! «I saw no temple. therein, for the 
Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb are the temple of it:—And 
the city had no need of the sun, ucitker of the moon to shine 


10 


in ity for the glory of God did lighten it, and th the Lamh 
‘light thereof. And the nations of them that are ‘sat 
walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth ¢ 
their glory and honor into it. - And the gates of its 
be shut at all by day: for there shall be no nigh there; 3 
they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations. ‘into 
He closes by saying, “There shall be no more ¢ 15 | u ’ 
throne of God and the Lamb, and his servants | sha wes nim 
And there shall be no night there; and. they need n > candle 
neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth hem light 
and they shall reign PEPE and ever.” “feat tee lie dees 
These, my. brethren, are faithful and true sayin scan the 
Lord God of the holy prophets hath ‘showed to his servant 
these things which must shortly be -done. 2 These things 
show the eactent and perpetuity of the Abrahamic ¢ covenant, — it 
is that gospel net, which is ultimately to encompass all the na- 
tions and families of the earth; and its perpetuity 2 will be com- 


mensurate with eternity. ee % 
ae, S&S =, 


SE thse 
mn “nasa 


The way ist now prepared to show, 


_ IL That this. covenant furnishes abundant ca 
sionary exertion. The human mind, ache er 
mt relaxes, begins to despond, and oar sinks sin de. 


rouses from stupor, awakes to exertion, all it 
are set in motion. When «Daniel ne ood by b 
number of years, whereof the word of the Lord cam 7 
miah the prophet, for the restoration of his captive le 
from Babylon,” his powers were rye te low 


tion for mount Zion. Ancient story sept us, that, whil 
Alexander the great was at Jerusalem, the high pries est show- 
ed him, that, i in the prophecy of Daniel, the andoain 


11 


was to be overturned, by a certain Grecian king. This 
inflamed his martial zeal; and with the rapidity of “a he- 
goat,” he overran Europe and Asia, and in less than ten 
years were eer subdued by his arms. 


The covenant with Abraham presents motives, catcaatell 
above all others, to animate those engaged in the missionary 
cause. They have certainty of success; that they shall not 
labor in vain, nor spend their strength for naught. Here is 
the promise of Jehovah, the seal of heaven; and this confirmed 
by the oath of God; that this covenant shall ultimately draw. 
all nations to the cross; gather them into one vast assembly, 
on the mount Zion, the city of the living God,—where the 
Lamb himself shall feed them and lead them to living foun- 
tains of water. «The scriptures foreseeing that God would 
justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel 
unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. So 
then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” 
You see, then, brethren, there remaineth very much land te 
to be possessed. The certainty, the extent, and the duration, 
of the covenant are before you. And need I address you, 
as God addressed Abraham, «Arise and walk through the 
land in the length of it, and in the breadth of it.” «And begin 
to possess it.” 


Shall I ask you to examine the history of men; to notice the 
character and conduct of our fallen race; to accompany the 
traveller to all nations, and the isles of the sea; to examine 
the temples, the customs and rites of the pagan world,—see 
the fire or a stone worshipped by the poor Indians of Amer- 
ica—the sun or moon by the wandering Tartar of Asia—a 
river or a beast by the Gentoo of India—a toad or a serpent 
by the Hottentot of Africa—Behold the crowds of bewildered 
pilgrims travelling to the temples of Rome, of Mecca, of the 
Lamas, of Juggernaut, or to the banks of the Ganges—visit 
their pagodas and their funeral piles—look around the courts 
of papal inquisitors—observe the condition ef the Jews, and 


i8 
the fiercer passions exhibited throigh. fleets and arnti¢s in 
their dreadful conflicts—see the field or ocean where they 
fought, when thebattle ends—mark what is done in secret.— 
Then open the book of God, and learn that all men are bound. 
to lové Him supremely, and love as brethren;—that God calls 
on men to repent, and believe in the Lamb that dieds that this 
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God; 
that the command of Christ is binding on all his-disciples,«<Go 
preach. the gospel to.every creature;’’—that this gospelmakes 
known the only plan of salvation; that there is a day of judg- 
ment; a heaven for the righteous; a hell for the unholy;—that 
prapeg awful a are suspended on: the. deeds bern 
iri now, my br ladies “—_ I ask you a sith the 
mount of promise, where Abraham stood, whem he heard | 
from the lips of Jehovah, «By myself have I sworn, that in 
blessing, E will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply 
thy seed, as the stars of heaven,” And from this eminence of 
prophetic vision, take the telescope of faith, and look forward 
“sin the visions of God;’” and with the beloved disciple, behold 
‘fan angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the 
everlasting gospel to preach to all them that dwell on the 
earth.” Here, behold with Daniel, the stone cut out of the 
mountain without hands, falling on the nations that “rage” 
against the Lord, and against his anointed, <grinding them te 
powder, and the wind carrying them away as the chaff of 
the summer threshing floor.’ Here listen to the jubilee trum- 
pet, -and behold the ransomed of the Lord, returning and com- 
ing to Zion with songs of joy.--See the lion and the lamb, 
the child and the serpent, all harmonious; the churches 
spread abroad, as sheep that clothe a thousand hills, «The 
vallies also are covered with corn, they shout for joy; they 
also sing.” The vine and the fig tree are laden with fi ‘uit: 
‘No battle of the warrior, no garments rolled in blo 
pestilential breeze; no evil: occurrence;- none to mole 
make afraid in all the earth. cae Be 


13 


“Look back, and behold the babe of Bethlehem: see him in 
the manger; his agony in the garden; his blood streaming 
from the cross te redeem his elect. 


Yonder, behold him risen! <his garments white as snow; 
the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne like the fiery 
flame; his wheels like the burning fires a fiery stream issuing 
and coming forth from before him:—thousand thousands. 
ministering unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand 
standing before him; the judgment sets the books opened.’ 


Now, look forward, my brethren, to that, awful period, 
when the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God shall 
be heard:—Sce the graves opening; the dead rising; the 
living changing; the judge descending; all nations assembling: 
to hear their doom; the heavens rolling together as a scroll; 
the elements melting with fervent heat; the first heaven, and 
the first earth passing away:——behold the new heaven, and 
the new earth, in eternal splendour rising to view! 


Look yonder and see the poor pagans, and others, wito- 
perish through owr neglect, and those who rejected offered 
mercy, going «“atvay into everlasting fire!” Turning from 
this dismal scene, behold, the ransomed of the Lord, ascend- 
tag, with the captain of their salvation, to the heavenly Zion; 
mortality is swallowed up in life, and all heaven is their _ 
home! 


What move, my brethren, shall I exhibit te melt your 
hearts into compassion for a world of sinners on their way te 
judgment, and to awaken you to every missionary exertion. 


REFLECTIONS. 

ist. Whatever obstacles, to mere human view, may lie in 
the way of the accomplishment of the Abrahamic covenant, 
still these who believe in the faithfulness of God, have ne 
cause to despond. kc : 


14 s 


Infidels may say, “where is the promise of his comi ? all 
things continue as they were; and so they will remai n. The 
hope that you Christians cherish of converting the nations of 
Asia, of Africa, or the savages of America are mere delu- 
sions.”——But, to all such objections of infidels, the truth of God, 
pledged ‘in the promise to Abraham, is a sufficient reply. . 
“The heirs of the promise” do not need infidels to inform” 
them of the difficulties which lie in the way. of the fulfilment. 
of the promise. And were we to rely only on an arm of. 
fiesh, we should despair. For all the wisdom of the pagan. 
world, in the space of two thousand years, never led back 
one from the mazes of polytheism, to the worship of the true 
God. But, the Divine oath «puts an end to all strife? 
For all things are possible to um, who doth his pleasure in - 
the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. 
«None can stay his hand.’”—Your hopes, then, my friends, 
in the God of Abraham are not delusive, nor your faith pre- 
sumptive, in view of any obstacles to the accomplishment of - 
this promise. For ‘every valley shall be exalted, and every 

‘mountain and hill be made low, and the crooked shall be 
made straight, the rough places plain: and the glory of the 
Lord shail be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for 
‘the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” ‘ 


-2ndly. In respect of the friends of the Sospel, the long d ; 
lay of the accomplishment of the promise, ought not te para 
lize exertion. For “one day with the Lord is asa thousand 
years, and a thousand years as one day.”—To mere human 
view, the promise has always, at times, seemed to linger, 
God has seemed «slack cencerning his promise, as some 
men count slackness.” ‘Twenty-five years passed away, af- 
ter the promise of a son, before Isaac was born. Famine 
drave Abraham out of the promised land. Wars and - 
mdurs of wars alarmed the holy patriarch, Four -hundred 
and thirty years elapsed beforé his seed inherited the land. 
«Phe rod of the oppressor rested long on the lot of Jacob.” 
By Nebuchadnezzar the holy seed were driven from the | and 
cf promise. Two thousand years rolled away before the 


15 


‘birth of Him, in whom, emphatically, all nations were to he 
‘blessed. But, at the «set time,” in every instance, the prom- 
ise took effeet. Isaac was born; Egyptian bondage ended; 
Canaan was possessed; the captivity returned; Messiah 
came:—And when the day of pentecost was fully come, the 
Spirit was poured from on high; the middle wall of partition 
was broken down; Gentiles and Jews became «fellow heirs 
and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ, 
by the gospel.” Fhe oath of God is security for what re- 
mains. ae 


Satan shall be bound, the nations shall be freed from. his 
deception; and-the knowledge of the gospel be extended from 
the rising to the setting sun. Why then alien brethren, 
“in view of the delay of the promise. 


$dly.. The subject exhibits our duty, in effecting this: prom- 
ise, as workers together with God, 


_ We must begin at oon. set our hearts to all the words of 
it; and give up our households to the Lord. Though, the seal 
may be changed, the covenant is immutable. This covenant 
was confirmed with Abraham for an everlasting covenant, 
ssbecause he obeyed God’s voice, and kept his charge, his 
commandments and his laws.” «I know him,’ said God, 
ssthat he will command his household after him.”’ In this way 
we are to co-operate with God to carry his promise into full 
effect. Obedience to the moral. law is a condition of this cove- 
nant, scwalk before me and be thou perfect.”—<They that 
come of Jacob el blossom and bud, and fill the face of ihe 
world with fruit.’ : 


Abraham was distinguished for his faith, obedience, and 
parental fidelity to his household. Isaac, Jacob, and many of 
the succeeding patriarchs followed his example, till, in the 
days of Solomon, they cov ered the land of Israel. J esus, the 
promised seed blossomed, . and behold the harvest, of a world! 
The London missionary society blossomed, and what a muly. 


16 


titude of missionary buds! And thus, my brethren, shall they 
that come of Jacob blossom and bud till, as the effect of the 
Redeemer’s purchase, they shall «fill the ~— of the world 
mae fruit.”* a! 


‘Ath. As God hath performed so much of his nuns he. 
Abraham, there is cause to be animated in missionary exer- 
tion. i 


Abraham’s natural posterity has become numerous as the 
promise. And yet they all sprang from one, “and he as 
good as dead.” The intermediate promises are all performed. 
And the God of Abraham is exciting the present genera- 
tion of his people to roll back the guilt of ages, who slumber- 
ed in sound of that command of the ascending Saviour, <<Go 
ieach all natiens.”? Almost al! nations do now begin to. 
read or hear «the wonderful works ef God in their own Jan- 
guage.” The veil begins to be rent from the heart of 
the Jew: the covering cast over all nations is removing. 
The glorious period promised to the church is at hand. The 
morning Star has arisen. The day begins to dawn. | ‘The 
shadows are fleeing away; and, at the set time, the millenni- 
al Sun, in all His glory, will beam upon the world! E 


With respect to the period when, after all that has been 
written to the coutrary, by men whose memory we so highly 
esteem, believing their strong faith led them to anticipate ‘the 
set time to favour Zion, still, perhaps, we have Tittle reason 
to conclude the millennium will commence for near two. cen- 
turies to come. 


This may be traced back, as te opinion of the wae of 
0d, into very remote periods of antiquity. «Two ‘thous- 


* See Isaiah xxvii,6. The dlossom is here, contrary to the soraeradiaaa ; 
gaentioned before the 6ud; and the scriptures represent grace.as being contrary 
to nature. Romans xi, 24. ‘For if thou wert cut out of the olive-tree, which is 
wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive-tree”” 


— 


A ns 


and years before the law, or before Abraham. ‘Two thousand 
years under the law. ‘Two thousand years hati Messiah, 


ty Then comes the sabbath.’ 


And, in view of the present state of the nations, there 
seems little reason for a different opinion. 


But, to conclude, the contribution on this occasion will, 
for a moment, claim your attention. 


And what will you give? Yonder sits the Saviour ésover 
against the treasury!’’ He sits there to observe the rich man’s, 
liberal see i and Mi poor widow's mite! 


By the transactions of this evening, you become workers 
together with God, who, in his own time, will roll on that 
glorious day, when ‘the morning stars shall again sing to- ! 
setheny and all the sons of God shall shout for joy.? Amen. 


i 


ae) 


NOTE. 


This fourteenth chapter of Genesis appears, typically, to contain a 
summary history of the church in all ages. 

God had given Abraham and his seed the land of Canaan. But 
others disputed his claim. Chedorlaomer held it in subjection twelve 
years, in the thirteenth they rebelled, in the fourteenth year came 
“Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, | 
king of Elam, and Tidal, king of nations,”’ and made an entire con- 
quest of the fromised land, and marched through i it in triumph. : 

Abraham, on hearing this, “armed his trained,” or instructed “ser- 
vants, born in his house, and pursued them to Dan.” See Gen. xiv, 
15th to the 20th verse. From this, it is evident that Abraham made 
an easy, and entire conquest of these four kings, and drave them, as 
may be seen, by the map, beyond the bounds of the “land of promise.” 

Are not these “four kings” typical of the “four great beasts,” 
which Daniel saw? For he tells us, “These great beasts, which are 
four, are four kings.” See Dan. vii. 

May not Abrahan, and his family, be considered a type of the 
church? His oe these kings entirely out of the limits of “the land 
of promise,” a type of the final triumph of the church over all her 
enemies, when “the meek shall inherit the earth,”—Melchisedek, a 
type of Christ,—‘the bread and wine,” which he gave Abraham, a 
type of “the consolations” Christ will communicate to his chosen 
people,—the “tythes,” Abraham gave Melchisedek, a type of all 
the praises the redeemed will ascribe to him bap sitteth soc throne; 
and to the ge forevep and ever. 


“Beara t Coo 


A 


MISSIONARY SERMON 
® f 


DELIVERED IN ia 
NORTH PRESBYTERIAN MEETING HOUSE, 


IN HARTFORD, 
_ ON THE EVENING OF MAY 19, 1812. 


AT THE REQUEST OF THE TRUSTEES 0& THE MISSIONARY 


SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT. -« 


ff 
. 


BY DIODATE BROCKWAY; 


PASTOR OF THE CHURCH IN ELLINGTON. 


HARTFORD : 


PETER B. GLEASON AND CO, PRINTERS, 


weeeresccese 


MISSIONARY SERMON. 


2 CoRiINTHIANS VIII. 9, 


For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was 
rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty 
might be rich. 


N the context the apostle labors to engage the Corinthian 
believers in charitable contributions for the relief of the poor 
saints at Jerusalem. All the benevolent affections of his sou! were 
enkindled within him, when he thought of the poverty and suffer- 
ings of these afflicted and persecuted people of God; and he 
pleads their cause with a zeal proportioned to their necessitous 
circumstances. He first endeavors to persuade the Corinthians to 
contributé liberally, by the commendable examplé of the Macedo- 
nian chorches, which, though in a state of great affliction and 
poverty, had abounded in the riches of their liberality, and pro- 
ceeded im the benevolent work of relieving their poor breth- 
ren to the extent of their ability : “ Yea, saith the apostle, 
and beyond their powex, they were willing of themselves ; 
praying us with much entreaty, that we would receive the gilt, 
and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.” 
The next argument which the apostle uses to excite them to 
be liberal in their coniributions for the poor, is derived from their 
Christian character and attainments. He commends them for 
their eminent gifts and shining virtues, and entreats them to prove 
the sincerity of their love, by the abundance of their charities : 
“ Therefore as ye abound in every thing, in faith, in utterance, 
and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your re to us; see 
that ye abound in this grace also.” 


4, MISSIONARY SERMON. ‘ashe thy 


The last argument of the apostle to excite them to the exercise’ 
of Christian benevolence in alms-giving, is taken from the bounty 
and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, as exhibited in our text : 
“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though | 
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through 
his poverty might be rich.” Sn  baas 


My discourse will be divided into two parts. ; : 

: ahd aR? ae 
An explanation of the text will constitute the first. The exhi- 
bition of the obligation on Christians, derived from the example 
of Christ’s benevolence, to convey the gospel to those who do 


not enjoy it, will constitute the secend. 


I. The text is to be explained. It contains the following 
propositions. Jesus Christ was rich. He beeame poor. It was. 
for our sakes. vies 

First, Jesus Christ was rich. Pichi diet! 

The apostle, no doubt, meant to express in these words the 
divinity and Godhead of the blessed Redeemer. “God so loved 
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlas- 
ting life.” This is uniformly spoken of in the gospel, as the 
greatest expression of love that men or angels ever witnessed, and 
that which chiefly rendered it such, was the glorious character of 
Christ, who “is the propitiation for our sins.’ He was the 
Eternal Logos, who was in the beginning with God, and who was 
God. Those who degrade the Saviour toa mere man, to an 
angel, or to what some are pleased to call a superangelical being, 
take away that which, above every *thing else, magnifies the — 
grace of God in the work of redemption. They cast a veil over 
the glory of the gospel, destroy the mysteries of the cross, and the 
foundation of our hopes. The gift of a Saviour is unspeakably 
heightened by the consideration that the Messiah was a divine 
person ; that he was one with the Father in essence, and equal 
with him in power and glory. “ Great is the mystery of godli- — 
ness : God was manifest in the flesh,” in an incarnate state, in the 
person of Jesus Christ, for the redemption of a lost world: Since 
God has given us this unspeakable gift, namely, his dearly be- 
loved Son, who was I mmanuel, God with us, there is nothing else 


Py He became poor. This is the second proposition to be illus- 
r 


~ 


MISSIONARY SERMON. | 5 


too great for him to bestow ; and we can easily believe that with 
Christ, he will freely give us all things. 

. Inthe scriptures the Godhead of the Saviour is expressed in 
language which the Holy Ghost teacheth. He ascribes to him 


what cannot, without blasphemy, be ascribed to a created, de- 


pendant, being ; even the incommunicable attributes of Jrnovan. 
Eternity, omnipresence, immutability, and omniscience, are ascri- 
bed to him. Possessing these attributes, well might he be styled by 
the prophet, .“ The Mighty. God, the Everlasting Father ;” and 
well might the apostle, say, “ In him dwelleth all the fulness of 
the Godhead bodily.” “ This is the true God and eternal life.” 

‘ The works of Christ exhibit his divinity. “ By him were all 
things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible 
and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, principalities — 
or powers, all things were created by him and for him.” When 
en earth, he wrought miracles, and invested the apostles with 
power to work them. . He forgave the penitent, and is now: ex- 
alted at the Father’s right hand, to give repentance to Israel, and 
forgiveness of sins. Absolute sovereignty is ascribed to him. 
His empire is as extensive as his works. His dominion is ever- 
lasting, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed. Hence this 
honorable testimony from the Father : “ Thy throne, O God, is 
for ever and ever.” @ 

Jesus Christ when on earth was worshipped by men, and is now 
worshipped by the heavenly hosts. It is the will of God, as ex- 
pressed in his word, that all men should honor the Son, even as 
they honor the Father. Dying Stephen commended his spirit to 
the Redeemer. St. John in a vision heard the ten thousand times 
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, that surround the throne 
of God, saying with aloud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain, toreceive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and 
honor, and glory, and blessing.” Our Lord Jesus Christ is the sove- 
reign proprietor of all things in heaven and in earth—every beast 
of the forest is his, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. The 
world is his, and the fulness thereof. Behold, then, the riches of 
Christ ! They are seen in the giory of his character, and in the 
immensity of his possessions. 


ated. 


6 MISSIONARY SERMON, 


To the unbelieving Jews the voluntary poverty. of Christ was) 
a stumbling block and rock of offence. They bie that the 
promised Messiah would come in all the splendor of royalty 3 and 
because his lowly appearance did not answer the expectation whicl 
_ they had formed in the pride of their hearts, they were offended 
athim. Instead of shouting, Hosanna to their king and Saviour, 
they cried out with indignation, “ Crucify him, erucify him.” 
To the veiled eye of unbelief, there appears no form or Come- 
liness in the Savicur ; no beauty that he should be desired. Itis 
not strange that those who pluck from him the crown of the 
Godhead, should be but little affected with his poverty. When 
we view the divinity and humanity, the riches and poverty of > 
Christ, in their mysterious connection, we wonder, admire, and 
rejoice. Ye know, saith the apostle to Christians, the grace of ~ Rs 
our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your 
sakes he became poor. If it had not been for his riches, there 
would have been nothing very wonderful in his poverty. While 
some can see nothing in the Saviour, but a mere creature, sufs. 
fering the vengeance of a holy God for the guilty ; others see the 
glory of the Deity, and exclaim with Thomas, “ My Lord, and 
my God !” 5 Ap 
He who had infinite treasures, became poor. Let us fora mo-— 
ment, contemplate the poverty of Christ, as exhibited in his 
birth, life and death. Though he was ushered into the world by 
the song of angels, yet he was born in a stable, and laid in a 
manger. His followers were few in number, and they had neither 
honor, wealth, nor power. So far from having any claim to 
worldly distinction and greatness, they were considered as the 
filth and offscouring of all things. Though our divine Lord went — 
about doing good, “ preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and 
healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among — 
the people,” yet he himself was exposed to almost every species of } 
want and distress; to hunger, thirst and nakedness. _ How true. 
was his own pathetic declaration, “ The foxes have holes, and the 
birds of the air have nests: but’ the Son of man hath not where — 
to lay his head.” The sufferings of Christ increased, as the time | 
drew nigh when he must be immolated on the altar of divine ie 
justice. Go with me, my dear hearers, in imagination, ta gS 


the garden of Gethsemane. Witness the conflict which her 


x 


¢ 


MISSIONARY SERMON. 7. 


there endured. In an agony, which caused him to sweat, as it 
were, drops of blood, he said, “ My soul is exceeding sorrowful, 
_ eyenunto death. O my Father! if it be possible, let this cup 
pass from me : nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” From 
the garden, go to mount Calvary. Behold the Son of God in the 
hands of his executioners! He is brought as a lamb to the 
‘slaughter ; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he 
opened not his mouth. Benold him stripped of his raiment, wear- 
ing a crown of thorns, and suspended on the cross between two 
thieves! Hear the insults and mockery of the soldiers, boaying 
the knee before him, and saying, Hail king of the Jews! This is 
he who was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor! Who is not 
comforted to hear him say at length, in the extremity of his suf- 
ferings, It is finished! This voluntary poverty and humiliation 
of our Lord Jesus Christ was— 


For our sakes. ‘his is the third proposition. 


Here. is expressed the benevolent design of the sufferings and 
death of the Son of God. He becaine poor, that we through his 
poverty might be rich. That mercy might be extended to sin- 
ners, he left the bosom of his Father, came into the world in the 
form of a servant, endured the contradiction of sinners, and 
became obedient unto the death of the cross. The sacrifice 
which he offered to God for us, was himself. He was delivered 
for our offences, and raised again for our justification. His poy- 
erty laid the foundation for the believer's riches : ; not the riches 
which perish in using, but those which will abide when this world 
and its glory shall have passed away. Christ hath redeemed us, 
saith the apostle, from the curse of the law, by being made a curse 
for us. ‘The prophet Isaiah had this in view when he said of the 
Redeemer, “He hath berne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. 
He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our 
iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and by 
his stripes we are héaled. All we like sheep have gone astray ; 
we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath 
Jaid on him the iniquity of us all.” This is agreeable to the lan< 
guage of the apostle: “He who knew no sin, was made sin for us, 
that we might be made the righteousness of Godin him.” Jesus 
Shret drank the bitter cup of God’s wrath, that his people might 


3B MISSIONARY SERMON. 


drink the cup of salvation. He wore a crown of thorns that they 
might wear a crown of glory. In consequence of his sufferings, 
and obedience, we, my hearers, have a great high priest, in 
whose name we may come boldly to the throne of God, to obtain 
mercy ; and find grace to help in'time of need. Through the 
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the redeemed receive not only 
the riches of grace, but the riches of glory. _Thisleadsus . 


II. To show the obligation on Christians, dérived from the ex- 
‘ample of Christ’s benevolence to them, to gps we fie end ‘to 
those who do not enjoy it.  —- 

The apostle introduced the passage from which we have been 
discoursing, (as has already been observed,) with the express de- 
sign, to influence the Corinthians to contribute freely of their 
worldly treasure, for the relief and support of the poor saints at - 
Jerusalem. And by what more affecting and weighty considera- 
tion, could he urge them to this duty, than that which is con- 
tained in the text ? If they were capable of feeling the force of 
their moral obligation to do good to others, resulting from 
the example of Christ’s bounty and goodness to them; if 
they would be constrained by the love of Christ, to charitable 
deeds, the text furnishes a motive which they could not resist 
nor evade. They were called upon to prove the sincerity of 
their love to Christ, by supplying the wants of his poor, afilic- 
ted members. This duty is pressed upon them by the wonder- 
ful grace and love of the Redeemer, who, though he was 
rich, for their sakes became poor, that they through his poy- 
erty might be rich. Giving alms from right motives, and 
to those who are proper objects of charity, and especially to 
the poor brethren, is considered by Christ as an expression 
of love to himself. “Inasmuch, saith he, as ye have done 
‘it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it 

‘unto me. Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these lit- 
tle ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, ve- 
rily Isay unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.” 

If itis our duty, in imitation of the example of Christ, to re- 

‘lieve the temporal wants of our fellow men, it is also our duty by 
a like imitation, to do all in our power, to supply their spiritual 
wants. That charity which has in view the salvation of immortal 
souls, is more glorious, and will receive a richer reward, than 


MISSIONARY SERMON. 9 


that which regards simply the bodily sufferings, or even the lives 

of men. The former has a greater object in view, inasmuch 

as the soul is of more worth than the body. He whospeuds his 

life, like the benevolent Howard, in visiting the Lazaretto and _ 
the prison, to instruct, comfort, and relieve the afflicted and the 

miserable, does well. But he, who, like Paul, devotes himself 

entirely to the spiritual interests of his fellow men, and is willing 

‘to spend and be spent for their salvation, does better. The be- 

nevolence of Paul was greater than that of Howard, and the 

benevolence of Jesus Christ was greater than that of Paul. 

The Jews had very contracted notions of the gospel kingdom 3; 
they ignorantly imagined that it was to be confined to their na- 
tion. Toconvince them of their mistake, Christ said, “ Other 
sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, 
and they shall hear my voice: and there shall be one fold, and 
one shepherd.” He has declared it to be his will; that the gos- 
pel should be preached to every creature ; that the glad tidings 
of salvation should go into all the earth, and his words unto the 
end of the world. His ministers may now address Christians as 
Paul did his Corinthian brethren : “ For ye know the grace of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes 
he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” 
And now, brethren, beloved of the Lord, they may add, in re- 
membrance of the unparalleled love of the dear Redeemer, we 
call upon you to contribute of your worldly substance in promo- 
ting the interests of his kingdom, in spreading the knowledge of 
his grace, and the savor of his name tothe ends of the earth. 
Can we resist so reasonable a claim upon our charity? This is a 
demand which Jesus Christ has upon us ; can we be so ungrateful 
as to disregard it ? In what way can we better express our love to 
him, and the souls which he came to redeem, than by promoting 
the spread of the gospel among the poor heathen ? Can you, my 
hearers, think of any object more worthy of your regard? To 
whom can you become greater benefactors than to the heathen ? 
To what use, so benevolent and honorable, can you appropriate 
your treasures, as to their conversion ? In what work can you en- 
gage with a better prospect of success, since God has given to his 
Son, the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost re of 


the earth for 2 possession ? 
a 


10 MISSIONARY SERMON. © 


Those who enjoy the gospel, and have the means tof extemd-: 
ing the knowledge of it, lo those who are sitting in the :fogtom 
and shadow of death, are under indispensable obligations, to im. 
prove these means to the best advantage. Thisis a plain duty, 
and one which may be urged upon Christians, by a. consideration, 
of all others the miost affecting, even the death of the Saviour, 
Can the belicver seriously doubt, whether it is his duty, to give 
alms for the promotion of an object for which the blessed Redeem- 
er agonized and died ? If he wants arguments to convince him 
that this is a duty, or if he wants motives to perform it, the cross. 
of Christ furnishes them. Here he may learn what the Son of 
God has done for his salvation, and what he ought todo for ‘the 
salvation of those who know not the worth of the soul, or the price 
of itsredemption. The subject of evangelizing the heathen has- 
been criminally neglected. While the Christian world has slum- 
bered, millions of precious souls have gone into eternity, ignorant 
of the Saviour, whom to know is eternal life. Christians begin 
to consider that it is important, that the heathen should be taught 
that there is salvation in Jesus Christ. Let them not imagine 
that they may abandon them, after they have breathed out a few. 
desires, and made a few efforts for theirconyersion. This is not a 
work which can be accomplished at once, or by small means ; 
and what are years of labor, and millions of property, when com- ’ 
pared with the magnitude of the object upon which they : are.ex- 
pended ? What are all the sacrifices which are made to promote 
this benevolent object, compared with those which Jesus Christ 
made for our sakes ? In soliciting alms to be appropriated to the 
spiritual benefit of the heathen, we cannot say, it is enough, un- 
_til they have the scriptures in their own language ; until all 
temples of idolaters shall be consecrated to the true God, and 2 
the incense of pure worship ascend to the divine Redeaeee from 
every pagan altar. nae 
What an extensive field, my brethren, deo heathen Yands open 
for the exercise of Christian benevolence, for the exertion a 
Missionary labors? Millions, and millions of our guilty race, 
are sitting in the solitary darkness of heathenism. The Sun of 
righteousness has never shone upon them. They have 3 ver 
heard of Him who was rich, yet for our sakes became poor. 
Tguorant of the atoning sacrifice which was 8 offered to God for 


MISSIONARY SERMON. 11 


our sins, they are now presenting beasts and human victims to 
appease the anger of their gods. From the Researches of Doctor 
Buchanan in Asia, we learn to an extent before unknown, the 
enormities of paganism; enormities which surpass description, 
aud which cannot be fully known, but by those who have seen 
them. What an affecting account has he given of the obscene 
and idolatrous worship of the countless hosts of pilgrims who re- 
sort to the temple of Juggernaut! At the celebration of the 
* srand Hindoo festival” “indecent emblems” are exhibited ; 
austerities, the most severe, imposed; and various modes of self- 
torture practised, by the ignorant multitude,+who think they are 
rendering an acceptable service to their idol. The immolation of 
females, on the funeral pile of their husbands, is a superstitious 
and barbarous practice that prevails extensively in India. So _ 
frequent is this “ female sacrifice,” that in the short space of six 
months, one hundred and fifteen women were burned alive, w ith- 
in thirty miles of Calcutta. The Romish Christians, in some parts 
of India, are not at all superior in point of humanity to the 
wretched pagans. We cannotread, without horror, the account 
of the Inquisition at Goa; of its cruel priests; of its savage 
policy ; of its horrid dungeons ; of itsracks, and flames. Mul- 
titudes are here “ condemned by a tribynal of their fellow-sinners, 
their bodies devoted to the flames, and their souls to perdition.” 
In no other way can we so effectually divert the heathen from 
their superstitious and unavailing ceremonies, as by giving them 
the gospel, and teaching them its doctrines and precepts. This 
blessed volume contains for them, as well as for us, glad tidings of 
great joy. It has power to pull down the idols of the heathen, 
and to destroy their strong holds. Let the word of God have free 
course among them, and their idolatrous temples would disappear. 
The disconsolate widow, instead of sacrificing herself on the fu- 
neral pile, would cheerfully acquiesce in the government of God, 
and in the midst of her grief, she would triumphantly sing, “ Our 
light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far 
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Let the light of 
the gospel shine within the walls of the Inquisition, and the keep- 
ers thereof would tremble. The gospel has liberty to proclaim 
to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are 
pound. Consider the deplorable situation of the poor heathens 


12 MISSIONARY SERMON. 


who are in a state of spiritual exile, strangers from the covenant, 
of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. The | 
salvation of some of these out-casts from the knowledge and 
mercy of God, may be accomplished by your charity. . Put 
them in possession of the Bible; this will direct them to him 
who appeared on the cross with dyed garments, but is now glori- 
ous in his apparel—Migthy to save. It will point them to the 
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. We al- 
ready hear of the triumphs of the cross among them. Oh! Let 
their miseries still excite your compassion. Go forth by your 
messengers before tle face of the Lord, to prepare his way among 
the heathen ; and may the word of the Lord have free course 
among them, and be glorified. That this benevolent object may 
be accomplished, we can, without a blush, solicit the charity of 
all who enjoy the gospel; for the accomplishment of this object, 
we are not ashamed to beg. The cause which we advocate, is 
the cause of humanity ; it is the cause for which the blessed 
Saviour died. We plead for millions of souls who are perishing 
for lack of vision : let us not plead in vain. Tf ¢ our impor tunity 
be great, the cause which excites it is also great. How immense 
were the charities of the first converts to Christianity! They sold 
their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every 
man had need! What great sacrifices did they make to extend 
the knowledge of the Redeemer ? How cheerfully did they take 
upon them the spoiling of their goods ? How unwearied were they 
-in their labors ? How patient in their sufferings ? How importu- 
nate in their prayers ? No one can doubt, that they possessed the 
spirit of their Master, who became poor for their sakes. But 
how dwelleth the love of God in those who are so engaged to 
heap up treasures to themselves, that they have nothing to bestow 
upon the needy ; who shut up the bowels of their compassion 
against the heathen ! a 
Let us remember that the heathen are not the only geeider who 
ought to excite our compassion, and to whom we are bound to 
send the gospel. Many of our new settlements cannot enjoy 
Christian ordinances without our aid. ‘These are not only objects 
of our charity in common with the heathen, but they - have pe- 
culiar claims upon our benevolence. Here are our bréthren’; 
our Kinsmen, according to the flesh. What blessing can we send. 


MISSIONARY SERMON. 1s 


them so valuable as the word and ordinances of God. Much has 
peen done by the Missionary Society of this State, to supply the 
spiritual wants of these destitute people. And may the blessing 
of God which has attended their exertions, be their encourage- 
ment to proceed in this work of love. 

Missionary Societies are the “ stewards of our charity.” And 
they cannot, my brethren, send the gospel to the destitute unless 
the people furnish them with the necessary means. Their ability 
to spread the knowledge of the Saviour, will be in proportion to 
the liberality of our contributions. Let no one say, I have noth- 
ing to bestow ; I can spare no portion of my interest to convey 
the words of eternal life to the perishing. If what is expended in 
luxury, rioting, and guilty pleasures, were appropriated to mis- 
sionary purposes, what an immense revenue would it provide ? 
In a short time it would be sufficient to furnish every family on 
earth with the holy scriptures, and every language and people un- 
der the whole heavens with gospel Missionaries. The words of 
the celebrated Saurin, when enforcing on his hearers the duty of. 
charity, may with propriety be addressed to us: “ Let each there- 
fore tax himself. Let no one continue in arrears. Leta noble 
emulation be seen amongst us. Let the man in power give a 
part of the salary of his office. Let military men give a part of 
their pay. Let the merchant give a part of the profits of his 
trade. Let the mechanic give a part of the labor of his hands. 
Let the minister consecrate a part of what his ministry preduces. 
Let the young man give a part of his pleasures. Let the lady 
bestow a part of her ornaments. Let the dissipated give that box 
of ointment, which was intended for profane uses.” Such a be- 
nevolent plan carried into execution, would enable those who are 
intrusted with our charities, to extend the knowledge of our Re- 
deemer to the ends of the earth. 

In this age of the world we cannot want for encouragement, to 
engage with undivided affection and zeal in the benevolent work 
of spreading the gospel. The year of recompenses for the con- 
troversy of Zion draweth nigh. Christians of every name and 
nation are rallying round the standard of the cross, they are com- 
ing to the help of the Lord against the mighty. He who is won- 
derful in counsel, and excellent in working, is shaking the heav- 
ens, and ihe earth, and the sea, and the dry land, that the desire 


” 
oy Te 


14 MISSIONARY SERMON. 


of all nations may come. Peace will soon be exténded to Jeru- ; 
salem like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing 
stream. The righteousness of Zion shall go forth as brightness, 
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. The seed of 
the faithful shall be known among the Gentiles, and their off- 
sprtag among-every people. As the earth bringeth forth her bud, 
and as the garden causeth the things that aye sown in it to spring 
forth ; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to 
spring forth before all nations. While we view in prospect the 
millennial reign of Christ on earth: let Christians remember that 
they may be the honored instruments of introducing it. Every 
Bible and every Missionary sent to the heathen, are preparing 
the way for his second coming ; for the reign of peace and right- 
eousness. If the ministry of John, Christ’s precursor, was hon- 
erable, so also is the ministry of those Missionaries who go to 
prepare the way of the Lord among the heathen. They shall be 
had in everlasting remembrance, and in the day when Ged shall 
make up his jewels, they will have the reward bestowed upon 
Martyrs and Apostles. Let us with gratitude acknowledge the 
goodness of God in raising up Missionaries among us, whose 
hearts burn with zeal for the salvation of the heathen ; who are 
willing to forsake houses, and brethren and sisters, and father and 
mother, to preach the gospel to those who know not the only 
true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. How is the min- 
istry of such persons “ applauded by the holy angels ; and how far 
does it transcend the work of a warrior or statesman, in charity, 
utility, and lasting fame!” The dear youths, who lately sailed from 
our shores as Missionaries, have gone to carry light and gladness 
ito dark and solitary places, and to erect the standard of the 
€ross in the enemies’ land, even where Satan’s seat is. May the 
angel of the Lord who apptared to Moses in the burning bush, go 
before them, and keep them in all their way ; may he give them 
power to tread on serpents and scorpions ; may they find favor 
in the sight of the heathen, and be enabled by the grace of God 
to finish their course with joy, and the ministry which they ave 
received of the Lord Jesus. Do the parents of these youths who 
have voluntarily exiled themselves from their country and friends 
need consolation ? If out of love to Christ they have sacrificed 
in his service their son, their beloyed Isaac, we say to them 


MISSIONARY SERMON. 15 


as the angel said to Abraham, “ Now I know that thou fearest 
God, seeing theu hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, froma 
me.” 

In these times of trouble, and of rebuke, and bla sphemy, when 
we hear of wars and rumors of wars, and earthquakes, in diverse 
places ; when we see upon the earth distress of nations, with per- 
plexity ; the sea and the waves roaring ; men’s hearts failing them 
for fear, let us be assured from these signs, that the redemption of 
the church draweth nigh. The sword of the Lord, which has 
been long drunk with blood, will be sheathed. The destroying 
angel who has gone forth among the nations, is followed by anoth- 
er angel, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that 
dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, 
and people. The great Head of the church is raising up Mission- 
aries for the heathen, and inspiring them with a spirit suited to 
their work. And as the silver and the gold are his, we believe 
he will dispose those who have freely received, freely to give. 
The most affectionate and commanding motive which can be set 
before a Christian audience, to influence them to engage heartily 
an the benevolent work df sending the gospel to the destitute, is 
that derived from the example of Christ’s bounty and goodness to 
them. That I may leave this motive impressed upon the minds 
of my hearers, I conclude with the words of our text: “For ye 
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was 
rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his pov- 
erty might be rich.” 


AMEN. 


TWO 


SERMONS 


ON 


INFIDELITY, 


DELIVERED 


OCTOBER 24, 1843. 


SSeS See 


BY WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING, 
Minister of the Church in Federal Street, Boston. 


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BOSTON: 


PUBLISHED BY CUMMINGS AND HILLIARD, NO. 4, CORNHILL. 


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7 


INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 


Tue author has yielded the following discourses to the wish- 
es of those who heard them, and he hopes that they will not whol- 
ly fail of the end for which they were composed. It is not from 
tenderness to his own reputation, but from regard to an infinitely 
more important interest, that he begs leave to state, that they were 
written without a thought of their being offered to the pub- 
lie, and that they do not pretend to give complete views of 
any of the subjects of which they treat. They are designed not 
so much to unfold the evidences of Christianity, as to procure for 
them aserious and respectful attention. He has merely glanced on 
the most important proofs, and has omitted some which have great 
weight on his own mind. [If he shall be so happy as to awaken 
eandid and patient inquiry, his principal object will be accom- 
plished. He wishes that Christianity should be thoroughly ex- 
amined. He indeed owes to this religion much of his present 
happiness, and his best and most consoling hopes. But he does 
not on this account wish to screen it from inquiry. It would 
cease to be his support, were he not persuaded, that it is able to 
sustain the most deliberate investigation. 

To those who wish to read on the subject, and who want time 
for elaborate works, he would recommend the following books : 
Dr. John Clarke’s answer to the question, Why are you a Chris- 
tian? Bishop Porteus’ summary; Doddridge’s three sermons; 
Leslie’s short and easy method; Bogue’s essay; Priestley’s ser- 
mon on the resurrection of Jesus; and Watson’s answer to Paine. v 

To those whose circumstances permit more extended inquiry, 
he would recommend Le Land’s necessity of revelation, Paley’s ev- 
idences, Campbell on miracles, Douglas’ criterion, Bonnet’s philo- 
sophieal researches, Newton on the prophecies, and Lardner’s 
sermons on the internal marks of credibility in the New Testament. 

To those who are disposed to pursue the subject, he would re- 


4 


commend Butler’s analogy, Paley’s Hore Pauline, Berkely’s mi- . 
nute philosopher, Lardner’s credibility, Duchal’s presumptive 
evidences, Maltby’s illustrations, Jor‘in’s discourses on the Chris- 
tian religion, Priestley’s letters to a philosophical unbeliever, 
Newecome’s observations on the character of our Lord, and the 
valuable treatises on the evidences of Christianity in Watson’s 
tracts. This catalogue might be extended to an indefinite length. 

The author has great satisfaction in informing his readers, 
that they are soon to be favoured with a volume of sermons from 
the pen of the late Rev. Mr. Buckminster of this town, in which 
some important evidences of Christianity are discussed with a 
clearness, and force, and eloquence, which have hardly been 
surpassed. ‘Those, to whom this excellent young man was known, 
well remember how deep, and serious, and operative was his con- 
viction of the truth of Christianity, and how earnestly and per- 
suasively he was accustomed to dwell on the marks which it 
bears of a divine original. ‘This ripe and accomplished scholar, 
this ardent lover of truth, this patient and candid inquirer, es- 
teemed it an unspeakable honour and happiness, that he was per- 
mitted to devote his splendid powers to the illustration and diffu- 
sion of Christian truth. His sermons on the characters of Jesus 
Christ, and of the apostles Peter and Paul, on the fitness of time 
when Jesus appeared, on the epistle to Philemon, and on the na- 
ture and importance of faith, will delight the reader of taste and 
cultivated intellect, whilst they will edify and confirm the serious 
Christian. 


‘ 


TWO SERMONS.. 


JOHN xii. 37. 
BUT THOUGH HE HAD DONE SO MANY MIRACLES BEFORE THEM, 
YET THEY BELIEVED NOT ON HIM. 


In these words we are informed, that the preaching’ 
of Jesus, although accompanied with numerous and un- 
exceptionable miracles, was far from producing univer- 
sal belief. The leaders of the Jewish people were of- 
fended by his humble appearance, and stung by his re- 
proofs; and were unwearied and successful in infusing 
their own bad passions into the obedient multitude. 
When we consider the character and expectations of the 
Jewish rulers and people, nothing is more easy than to 
account for their rejection of Jesus Christ ; and certainly 
no blame or suspicion should be attached to Jesus, be- 
cause such men rejected him. 

Unbelief has not been confined to the age when 
Christ appeared. Christianity has in no age been uni- 
versally believed. We cannot deny, that our religion 
does not carry irresistible conviction to those, to whom 
it is offered. It is not accompanied with evidences, which 
compel the understanding to embrace it, which leave no 
room, no possibility for doubt or incredulity. This has 
sometimes been urged as a proof, that Christianity is not 
from God; but in this respect Christianity agrees with 
all other moral or practical truth. It has pleased God, 


6 


that in relation to such truth our assent should not. be ex« 
torted ; that we should be left to seek it, instead of hav- 
ing it forced on our reception; and that we should be 
left at liberty to reject it, if, from any corrupt propensi- 
ty, we are disinclined to its belief. It would be foolish 
in the extreme to say, that christianity cannot be true, be- 
cause in that case it would be made so plain, and would 
be attended with proof so strong, that no one could resist 
it. Let me ask, where is the truth, which comes to us 
with this overpowering evidence? Where is the truth, 
which some minds have not doubted and denied? If we 
are to believe no religion but that which compels belief, 
and from which we cannot escape, then all religion must - 
be resigned; then we must give up that fundamental 
truth—the being of a God; for some minds have been so 
perverted, as to reject even this most clear and im- 
portant principle. Yes, some have iaboured to shake 
the throne of the Eternal, to banish him from his creation, 
to darken and blot out every trace of intelligent agency in 
his works, and to give his empire to undesigning chance, 
or to cruel and fatal necessity. How absurd then is the lan- 
guage of the infidel, who denies Jesus to be the Son of 
God, because he does not offer himself with credentials 
. which none can doubt or disbelieve! How natural is it 
to expect from God a religion (if he shall be pleased to 
reveal one) which will furnish room for objections, which 
will require fairness of mind in order to its reception, 
and which will meet opposition as well as respect. 
Since the first age, Christianity has had opposers. 
The hatred which it awakened at its birth is not yet laid 
to rest. There are still those who despise its guidance, 
and consolations, and hopes ; and who, not content with 
rejecting it themselves, wish to pluck it from the hearts of 


7 


others ; who, not satisfied with closing their own eyes on 
this cheering light, are eager to extinguish it, and wish 
to bury the world in the same cheerless gloom, which 
broods over their own understandings. By these re- 
marks, I am far from saying that this is an age of infidel- 
ity, or that contempt of Christianity is the prevalent char- 
acter of the times. ‘There is reason to hope, that the 
tremendous example, which has lately been given, of the 
influence of infidelity, has struck a horror into the minds 
of men, which will not soon pass away. ‘To those who 
are fond of exaggerating the wars and persecutions, 
which Christianity has kindled, we would say, go and 
witness the blessings of infidel philosophy, where it has 
been permitted to triumph! Behold the heart hardened 
into stone, and all the tender feelings of our nature giv- 
ing place to the ferocity of beasts of prey. Behold mur- 
der, and perfidy, and rapine let loose, and scattering ruin 
and dismay. Behold the best blood flowing in torrents, 
and observe the secret tears of the widow and fatherless, 
who dare not utter the anguish which consumes them! 
God has given to all nations an awful monument of the na- 
ture and influence of infidel principles, and I trust he 
has not admonished in vain. But whilst our age is not 
an infidel age, there are still those, and perhaps not a few, 
who doubt or reject Christianity. This ought not to ex- 
cite our wonder, because the causes of infidelity always 
exist. They are seeds sown in every soil, and seeds 
which are peculiarly quickened by a eaalnaasat and lux- 
urious state of society. 

I propose to dwell for a time on some of the princi- 
pal causes of infidelity, and then to show you that Chris- 
tianity, however opposed or despised, has yet the strong- 
est claims to the serious and respectful attention of all, to 
whom it is proposed, 


N 


8 


I. One great cause of infidelity is vice. That those, 
who indulge in any vicious habits, should look with an 
unfriendly eye ona religion, which reproyes them, which 
condems them, which arms conscience with new stings, 
which mingles fear with their guilty pleasures, cannot in- 
deed excite surprise. Such men have an interest in reject- 
ing Christianity. It is their enemy, their persecutor, a fet- 
ter, an incumbrance, from which they wish to escape, 
What single reason have they for wishing Christianity to 
be true? Itis indeed a religion of hope and promise; but 
to chem it utters not a word of promise; to them it wears 
a countenance of severity, reproof, and menace. Now to 
such men itis a very easy thing to resist and escape the evi-. 
dences of Christianity. This religion claims belief very 
much on the ground of its purity and excellence, and on 
the ground of the unparalleled greatness and loveliness of 
the character of its Author. But on minds seared and 
polluted by vice, these arguments are lost. The New 
‘Testament is read by such persons without exciting one 
moral feeling. They hear of Jesus, but see nothing of 
the heavenly lustre which surrounds him ; nothing of el- 
evated sentiment in his doctrine and precepts ; nothing 
of sincerity and disinterestedness in his humiliation and 
voluntary death. A mind, narrowed by selfishness or de- 
based by sensuality, is incapable of discerning and relish- 
ing purity and excellence, just as to the diseased eye 
there is no beauty in creation, and even the sun itself 
sheds a sickly or oppressive light. There are indeed 
other proofs of Christianity, besides those we have mens 
tioned; proofs from its miracles, from its progress, from 
the character and sufferings of its teachers, &e, &C. But 
these require attention, and a man immersed in the world 
and in pleasure has no attention to give them. He has 


9 


almost a disgust for serious reflection. Nothing relating 
to religion is voluntarily and deliberately weighed by him. 
He is happy to escape as much as possible from the sub- 
ject; and as christian evidences do not force themselves 
on his notice, he easily succeeds in overlooking them. 
On the contrary, he welcomes every profane jest, every 
superficial objection, every ludicrous misrepresentation, 
which may be employed to bring Christianity into con- 
tempt. For these arguments he hasa taste. "The more 
corrupt his mind, the more he relishes them. These 
fall in with his evil life, and relieve him from the fears of 
retribution. Do you wonder then, that they convince 
him; do you wonder that infidelity still finds friends and 
advocates ? | 
I]. Another cause, which operates to the production of 
infidelity, is pride or vanity ; and this is as operative now 
as inany past age. The great object of pride is distinc- 
tion. The object of the proud man is to stand alone; 
nothing is so mortifying as to be confounded with the 
vulgar. Is he vain of his understanding? He naturally 
desires to prove its superiority by looking farther than 
all around him, by detecting and exposing what he is 
pleased to call vulgar prejudices, by marking out for him- 
selfa new path. To conform to general opinions is, in 
his view, to be servile. He chooses to be a leader rather 
than a follower of others. He wishes to prove the vigour 
of his mind, by unsettling the minds of those around him, 
by shaking their firmest convictions,and imposing his own 
peculiar views. To such a mind, the general prevalence 
ofa system or opinion affords no presumption in its favor, 
but isan argument and a motive for doubting and as- 
sailing it. ‘The stronger and deeper its foundation, and 
the more venerable its age, the greater will be the honour 
2 


10 


of leveling it with the dust. Now can you wonder that. 
such men reject and oppose Christianity ? This system: 
is the religion of the multitude, and has bee established 
for ages. To embrace it, is to think just as thousands 
before us, and thousands around us think. In receiving 
the gospel, we receive a religion which the poor and un- 
learned profess, a religion which is suited to their limited 
capacities, which of course requires no profoundness or 
originality of mind in order to its reception, and sheds no 
_ reputation for talents on those who adhere toit. “To em- 
brace such a religion is not the road to distinction; but 
to overthrow it, to bring it into suspicion or contempt, 
this is to triumph over the prejudices of nations and of 
ages, to be superior to innumerable multitudes. This 
principle has been a very fruitful source of infidelity. 
The leaders in this bad cause have generally been men 
of unbounded intellectual ambition, supremely devoted 
to literary fame, who have hoped to signalize themselves 
by effecting a revolution in the minds and characters of 
mankind. To such persons, it is not difficult to find or 
to invent specious objections to Christianity. There is 
no truth, which men of powerful minds cannot place in 
unfavourable lights, cannot overspread and obseure with 
a web of sophistry. It deserves remark, that the very 
circumstance, which makes Christianity so offensive to 
the aspiring and vain, furnishes them with weapons for 
assailing it—I mean the circumstance of its general re- 
ception by all classes of the community. Every religion, 
of necessity, takes a shape and colour from the minds, by 
which it is embraced. The purest and sublimest truth 
will have the appearance of weakness, and sometimes of 
ludicrousness, when professed by persons of inferior un- 
derstanding. Ask a child to speak of God, and how lit- 


11 


tle that is venerable, will enter into the description of 
this infinite Being? What then ought we to expect, 
when a religion is embraced by all classes of society ; and 
by different nations, which are in different stages of civ- 
ilization, and have different manners, passions, and preju- 
dices? Why, this religion, however pure and simple, 
will be exceedingly disfigured, and will take a great va- 
riety of forms. We must expect, that a thousand ab- 
surd additions will be made to it. We must expect, 
that every nation and every class of society will endea- 
vour to make it speak a language, suited to their various 
peculiarities. All this is natural, is unavoidable, if the 
religion be generally received; and who does not see, 
that men of disingenuous minds may easily derive from 
this source plausible arguments against the religion, al- 
' though it is in no respect answerable for the mistakes of 
its professors? From this quarter, Christianity has been 
most frequently and most successfully assailed. Spread 
as it is over the world, and descending as it does to the 
lowest ranks of society, this religion has been exceedingly 
corrupted and deformed. The superstitious have made 
it a system of absurdity and terror. The formalist has 
decked it out in trifling ceremonies. The enthusiast has 
discovered in it hidden meanings, which support his wild- 
est dreams. The enemies of Christianity have pretend- 
ed to beligye, that the religion thus disfigured is the 
very religion which Jesus taught, and laboured to crush 
it by loading it with the weaknesses and even crimes of 
its professors. Because its followers are divided into 
sects, we are told, that it is a system of darkness and in- 
consistency ; although the authors of this charge must 
know, that any religion, however pure, which should be 
offered to the understandings of infinite numbers, in dif- 


12 


ferent ages and nations, would be viewed in a gteat vari- 


ety of lights, and would give rise to many sects and par: ' 


ties. ‘Thus we see, that those, who are unwilling to re- 
ceive Christianity because the multitude receive it, find, 
in the very circumstance which offends them, arguments 
_ to fortify their own minds in unbelief, and heii 
with which to shake the faith of others. a ae 
III. Let me mention one more source of infidelity, and 
this is ignorance. ‘This, perhaps, is of all the most fruit- 
ful. We may wonder, that men, brought up in a Chris« 
tian country, favoured with all the means of knowledge, 
should yet know little of the gospel, and still less of the 
evidences on which it rests. But I fear this is not un- 
frequent; and perhaps this ignorance arises from the 
very commonness of religious truth. |The mind attach- 
es little value to what is easily acquired, and every where 
diffused. Persons brought up in the frequent hearing of 
religious truths, in sight of the Bible, and in attendance 


on the house of God, become too familiar with these to — 


give to them the value and attention they deserve; reli- 
gion never strikes them as a new subject. In early life, 
they are not disposed to that calm and serious reflection 
which Christianity requires ; and as they advance in life, 
new interests acquire the control of their thoughts and 
passions. Hence it is, that many know less of Christian- 
ity than of any other subject within thei ch; and 
knowing so little, they are easily sthoreaeileanalale 
ties. ‘They have no means of separating the true doc- 
trine of Jesus from human additions, and yield to objec- 
tions, which are wholly founded on misapprehension, 
They have no shield to oppose to infidel arguments, for 
they have never dwelt on the proofs of their religion. 
Perhaps they have been brought up to believe, that Chris- 


a 


15 


tianity isso sure, that nothing can be urged against it, 
When such persons are assailed with specious objections, 
they are astonished, overwhelmed, and pass from the 
most unsuspecting faith to universal distrust of religion. 

I have thus suggested some of the principal causes of 
infidelity. Others, I am sensible, less criminal, may 
and do operate—such as an unhappy education; an ac- 
quaintance with persons of strong minds, who reject 
Christianity ; or an acquaintance with those Christians 
who hold very erroneous and debasing views of their re- 
ligion. In some persons, there seems to be an unfavour- 
able constitution of intellect, a singular want of judg- 
ment, an undue ascendency of imagination, in conse- 
quence of which religious truth can never be fixed and 

settled in their minds. For these-and other. reasons, I 
am unwilling to believe, that. infidelity has no source 
but depravity of heart, and that it can never be traced 
to causes which may absolve it from guilt. 

_ But be the causes what they may, infidelity still ex- 
ists, and sometimes is as anxious to propagate its princi- 
ples, as if it were conscious of having acquired the most 
important truth. Its exertions have too often been suc- 
cessful. The writings of infidels have done much to 
unsettle the minds of the unreflecting ; and as they offer 
no substitute for the principles they take away, they have 

' precipitated many into vice, by depriving them of the 

only restraint to which their passions have been accus- 
tomed. : 

These writings have been injurious, not so much by 
the strength of their arguments, as by the positive and 
contemptuous manner in which they speak of revelation. 

They abound in sarcasm, abuse, and sneer; and supply 


14 


the place of reasoning by ridicule and satire. Christi- 
anity is represented asa delusion of an age of darkness, 
propagated by fraud, and continued by folly. The in- 
tention is, to hold up the religion to contempt; and to 
produce the impression, that its claims are unworthy se- 
rious investigation, that it ought*to be numbered with 
the false religions, which have overspread the world, and 
to be dismissed with as little ceremony as the system of 
Mahomet or Brama. Now that this treatment of Chris- 
tianity is most unwarrantable, and unjust, and wicked, 
that this religion deserves at least respectful and serious 
attention, must be evident to every man, who has any 
honesty of mind. This religion, even if its truth be 
doubtful, has yet many marks of truth, of which no oth- 
er religion can boast. It ought not to be rejected with- 
out deliberate inquiry. It deserves to be heard with pa- 
tience, and to be heard with respect. I wish now to of- 
fer some remarks in support of the claims of Christianity 
to this respectful attention. I am particularly desirous 
to guard the young against that contemptuous neglect of 
the truths and evidences of our religion, into which many 
have been seduced by the language of infidelity. In the 
remarks which are to follow, I shall notice several of the 
most important objections, which are employed to destroy 
our reverence for the gospel of Christ. ' 
1. Christianity deserves a respectful attention, if we 
consider the character of its Founder. With respect 
to the excellence of Jesus Christ, but one opinion 
scems to exist. With few exceptions, infidelity, bold 
as it is, yet shrinks before the purity of Jesus, and 
has not courage to lay its unhallowed hands on his spot- 
less character. It is remarkable, that the most unprin- 
cipled writers against Christianity, have stopped the tor- 


15 


rent of abuse, to pay a tribute of respect to its Founder $ 
and in this, they act prudently. ‘The man who can read 
the history of Jesus and yet revile him, would prove him- 
self destitute of human feeling, of all sensibility to what 
is great and good in character, and would forfeit all claim 
to confidence and attention. Jesus is accordingly pro- 
nounced a good man; we are told, that he was pure in 
purposes, but was seduced by heated fancy, and mis- 
guided enthusiasm, into the belief of his mission from 
God. Now areligion, coming from a teacher so immacu- 
late, that even enmity cannot reproach him, and bearing so 
strongly the impressions of his purity, is certainly enti- 
tled to respectful attention. It isnot to be confounded with 
the systems of men, who were selfish and base, and who 
pretended to divine communications only for the purpose 
of establishing their power over the multitude. Besides; 
the marks of this enthusiasm, which is charged on Jesus, 
are not so very striking, that the charge ought to be re- 
ceived without careful inquiry. Jesus Christ an enthusi- 
ast, misled by a wild and heated fancy ! What! Could en- 
thusiasm form a character of such singular and inimitable 
excellence? Is enthusiasm so mild, so judicious, so 
consistent, so full of dignity, so sublime, as was Jesus ? 
If we follow him through his life, we see him always the 
same ; always superior to the age in which he lived; al- 
ways acting on the noblest principles, and for the most 
generous ends; uniting all the great and commanding, 
with all the tender and gentle virtues, in a degree unex- 
ampled in the history of mankind. We see him always 
collected, never disturbed by passion, ready to answer 
the most subtle and sudden questions, and habitually 
borrowing from the objects and events around him oc- 
casions for conveying the most weighty truth. Are 


16 


these the marks of a disordered mind? In that mild, 
composed, and benevolent countenance, do you sce the 
traces of derangement? What wonderful enthusiasm ! Y. 
Who would not wish to catch a portion of this ; wildness. 
of fancy ? My friends, the charge is too weak. If this is 
its only refuge, desperate indeed is the cause of ‘infidel- 
ity. : chic 
2. Another consideration which entitles Christianity 
to respectful attention, is this—That Jesus Christ appear- 
ed at a time, when there prevailed in the East a universal 
expectation of a distinguished personage, who was to 
produce a great and happy change i in the world. _ This 
expectation was built on writings, which claimed to be 
prophetic, which existed long before Jesus was born, 
and which describe a deliverer of the human race very 
similar, to say the least, to the character in which Jesus 
appeared. Now this is a very remarkable circumstance, 
which distinguishes Jesus from the founders of all other 
religions, and entitles him to serious and respectful atten- _ 
tion. / 
I know it is objected, that the Jewish nation sii. 
ed a different kind of deliverer from Jesus. This is true. 
But it appears to me a strong presumption in favour of 
Jesus, that he did mot conform to the expectations of his — 
nation. We have here a proof, that he could not have 
been a selfish deceiver ; for in that case, he would have 
flattered, not opposed, the strongest prejudices of all. 
around him. ‘The general expectation of a great deliy- 
erer induced many deceivers to offer themselves in this 
character to the Jews; but these were careful to adapt 
themselves to the wishes of the people. Why is it, that 
Jesus offered a deliverance, which, he must have known, 
was undesired, and would be ejected with contempt ? 2 


17 


There is no ground for the assertion, that the inter- 
pretation, given by the Jews to their own prophecies, 
must have been true, and that therefore Jesus, who did 
not conform to this, must have been a deceiver or de- 
ceived. When we read the prophecies relating to the 
great deliverer who was to come, we find them expressed 
in the language of the boldest metaphors. They were 
evidently designed to excite general expectations, rather 
than to convey any very precise views of the important 
events to which they refer. Such language might easily 
be misinterpreted, especially before its fulfilment; and 
we cannot wonder, that Jews beheld in these predictions 
their own nation raised to universal empire, and enjoying 
ease and plenty under their victorious leader. Jesus 
taught them, that the deliverer, who had been announc- 
ed, was to bless both Jews and Gentiles, not in the 
manner of earthly sovereigns, not by violence, not by 
leading armies, and founding a new throne on the ruins of 
aneient governments ; but by introducing, supporting, 
and extending through the world a pure and peaceful re- 
ligion, which should sway the minds, and refine the 
hearts of men, and thus communicate true happiness on 
earth, as well as prepare for immortality in heaven. This 
interpretation of the prophecies is evidently more gene- 
rous and sublime, more worthy of God, and more desir- 
able to mankind, than that to which the Jews adhered; 
and when we consider that this liberal interpretation was 
given by Jesus among a narrow and bigoted people, who 
were panting for universal dominion, what a view does it 
afford of the eleyation and benevolence of his character! 

This generous interpretation ‘of the prophecies, al- 
though different from that received by his nation, yet ac- 
eords in a striking manner with the scriptures. There 

3 


18 


the Messiah is again and again represented to us as @ 

teacher, a light to the Gentiles; who should communi- 

cate to all nations the knowledge of God; who should 
introduce universal peace, not by violence, but by mstruc-. 
tion ; and who should encounter opposition and suffering 
in accomplishing this sublime and benevolent work. 
These are very remarkable circumstances, such as never 
met before in any human being, but such as have been 
remarkably accomplished in Jesus Christ. It is a fact, 
that one of the great works predicted of the Messiah has 
been effected by him, ina degree which ought to astonish 
us; I refer to the extension of the knowledge of the 
true God among heathen nations.—It is true, that some 
effects ascribed to the Messiah, such as the genenal dif- 
fusion of peace, and the restoration of the Jewish people, 
are not yet fulfilled. But this ought not to surprise us.. 
The prophecies are not limited to the commencement of 
the Messiah’s reign; they relate to its whole duration. 
They unfoid the blessings which are to flow from him 
in the most distant ages. The prophets delighted to 
dwell on the last and concluding periods of the Messiah’s 
administration, when the full effects of his religion will - 
be felt and enjoyed. We cannot then wonder, that much _ 
is predicted which is not yet fulfilled. The works of 
God are gradual. ‘The seed does not spring up in amo- 
ment into the towering tree ; and.neither does the religion 

of Jesus, which he compared to a seed, produce at once 

its richest fruits——There are indeed passages in the 

prophets, which may seem to intimate, that at the appear- 

ance of the Messiah’ universal peace and happiness would 
at once prevail. But when we consider, with what rapid- 

ity these writers are accustomed to pass from near to re- 

mote events, and with what confidence they speak of the 


19 


most distant futurity as already present, we ought not to 


wonder, that they connect with the advent of the Messiah 


all the splendid triumphs which were to follow. In other 
passages, they have taught us toexpect a gradual accom- 
plishment of his purposes, by declaring, that he was to 
change and bless the world by instruction, and that he 
was to encounter opposition as well as enjoy success.— 
The religion of Jesus has already done much, which was 
predicted of the Messiah, and it may be expected to do 
more. It is particularly adapted to produce that peace, 
which the prophets so uniformly ascribe to the Messiah. 
Was ever character more pacific than Jesus? Can any 
religion breathe a milder temper than his? Into how ma- 
ny ferocious breasts has it already infused the kindest and 
gentlest spirit! -And after all these considerations, is Je- 
sus to be rejected, because some prophecies which relate 
to his future triumphs, are not yet accomplished ? 

3. Another consideration, which entitles Christianity 
to serious and respectful attention, is this—that the wit- 
nesses to the miracles and resurrection of Jesus had every 
possible advantage for knowing the truth of the facts they 
relate, and every motive to dissuade them from asserting 
these facts unless persuaded of their truth. The Gospels 
are something more than loose and idle rumors of events, 
which happened in a distant age and a distant nation. 
We have the testimony of men, who were associates of 
Jesus Christ; who received his instruction from his own 
lips, and saw his works with their own eyes ; who began 
their ministry and testimony, in the very country where 
he lived; and who, without any imaginable interest in his 
religion, distinct from that which a conviction of its truth 
inspired, devoted their lives to its diffusion through the 
world, encountered persecution, and exposed themselves 


Hey 


20 


to violent and ignominious death, Here certainly istes- 
timony the most unexceptionable. which can be desired, 
or even conceived, and the existence of which can ney- 
er be accounted for, but by admitting its truth. If you” 
read the writings of these men, you see im every page a 
love of virtue, a love of mankind, a sincere desire of en- 
lightening and reforming the world, an artless simplicity 
of style, and the most unaffected expressions of confi- 
dence in God and of the hope of a blessed immortality. 
Why shall not the testimony of such men be received? 

I know it is said, that sincerity is no proof of truth, 
that men have been-very upright in propagating falsehood, 
‘and that some have been willing to seal with their blood 
extravagant opinions received from tradition or generat, 
ed by enthusiasm and heated fancy, To this objection 
two answers may be offered: first, that the opinions, 
which the apostles so zealously espoused, are not to be 
traced to tradition or enthusiasm. They were such as 
contradicted all the prejudices of education, and all the 
hopes on which fancy had delighted to dwell. ‘They 
were the last sentiments to be embraced by Jews, 
Whence then did the apostles acquire the strange and 
invincible persuasion, that these opinions were true, and 
that it was their duty to propagate them at every NOEs 
and in the face of death. 

But another, and still more satisfactory answer to the 
objection, is this: It was not to opinions merely that the 
apostles bore their resolute and unwavering testimony. 
Their great object was to bear witness to facts, and to 
facts which fell under their immediate notice, and which 
were presented to all their senses. They state to us not 
their judgments, and inferences, and opinions, but what 
they saw, and felt, and heard. They relate events, which 


21 


passed before their eyes, and the circumstances of which 
excluded the possibility of deception. They must have 
been absolutely deranged, or they could not have erred 
in relation to such facts as they report. But do they 
write like madmen? Did they act like madmen? Could 
insanity have persuaded so many persons, that they all 
saw the same objects, and heard the same words, in such 
variety of situations, when all was delusion ? Could Bed- 
lamites have assailed with success the prejudices, and 
Passions, and established religions of the world, and have 
planted on the ruins a system so simple and noble as 
Christianity ? 

But there is another objection to the apostles, which 
has been urged as of great importance, and which cer- 
tainly deserves attention. It is this—that the apostles 
could not have been inspired, because they have fallen 
into many errors, We are told, that they have quoted 
and applied incorrectly passages from the Old Testa- 
ment, that they disagree with one another in the state. 
ment of facts, and that they have adopted many false 
opinions which prevailed in their age. This is an old 
objection, and perhaps the most plausible, with which 
Christianity has been assailed: but it has very little 
_ Weight, especially when balanced against the strong and 
unanswerable arguments which support our religion. 
The objection is not true, at least in the extent to which 
it is urged; and even if true, it ought not to affect our 
belief of the gospel. 

The apostles, we are told, have quoted erroneously. 
Before you admit this assertion, you ought to be satisfi- 
ed, that you understand the passages which they have 
quoted, and that you know precisely the objects of their 
quotations. There is reason to believe, that the Jews, 


22 


who had few books besides the scriptures, were in the 

habit of accommodating these to passing events with a” 
freedom which is unknown at the present time. Sup- 

pose that the apostles conformed to this innocent usage,- 

and that, for the sake of illustration or ornament, they 

sometimes applied passages from the Old Testament to- 

events or circumstances, for which they were not origin- 

ally intended. Would this prove that they mistook the - 
scriptures ? 

But “the apostles have stated facts inivenneutby 7 
Before you admit this assertion, you ought to inquire, 
whether the appearance of  incorrectness is not to be ex- 
pected in books so circumstanced as the gospels. You 
will not forget that the gospels are far from being com- 
plete and regular histories of the life of Jesus; that, on 
the contrary, “ditepent facts and different circumstances of 
the same facts are selected and reported by the different 
writers, according to the diversity of their tastes and ob- 
jects. Can you be surprised, that narratives so incom- 
plete, and arranged with so little care, should sometimes 
appear to seth when a full and methodieal history, by 
supplying the omissions of each writer, might show that 
each has been accurate, in the particular province to 
which his attention has been confined. Besides, who 
does not know that statements, apparently incorrect and 
absurd, have often been relieved from difficulty, by a dis- 
covery of some trifling circumstance, belonging to the 
times, to which the statements refer. Recollect now, 
that the gospels were written at a distant period, and are 
crowded with references to the habits, feelings, and con-. 
dition of the age when they were composed. Recollect 
too, what cannot be denied, that almost every addition to 
our knowledge of that age has shed new light on passag- 


. appearance of incorrectness to the most consistent 


23 


es, which before perplexed us. Have we then no ground 
for the conclusion, that it is to our own ignorance, and 
not to the apostles’, that many of the difficulties which re- 
main ought to be ascribed, and that these will vanish in 
amore illuminated age. To all this let it be added, 
that the apostles wrote in a very peculiar dialect of the 
Greek language, and that the precise import of their 
words frequently eludes even the most learned. Now 
every one knows, that a very slight misapprehension of 


the language of an author ‘is often sufficient to sive the 
Narra- 


tive. 

_ But, “the apostles adopted popular errors.” Before 
you admit this charge, you ought to satisfy yourselves, 
that the popular opinions referred to are really erroneous ; 
and then you should prove, that the apostles enforced 
these as truths, which they were divinely commissioned 
to preach to the world. This last remark is very import- 
ant. If the sacred writers merely acquiesce in prevailing 
errors, it does not follow that they adopted them. They 


_ might innocently conform to the popular language on 


i 
: 
| 


subjects which constituted no part of the Christian doc- 
trine; and might even wink at some injurious opinions, 
if they foresaw that these would vanish of themselves, in 
proportion as the gospel should be extended and under- 
stood. Had they undertaken to assail every established 
error, they would have excited needless and endless pre- 
judice against the religion which it was their great and 
only business to communicate. Suppose that I should 
be sent to preach Christianity to heathens: and suppose, 
that I should refuse to speak as they do of the rising 
and the. setting of the sun; that I should rebuke 
every word which might fall from their lips, implying 


24 


that this luminary exerts an influence on vegetation, 
which belongs only to God ; and, in fine, that I should re- 
monstrate against every expression and senti ent, which, 
if followed to its consequences, might involve something 
inconsistent with Christian truth. To what unnecessa- 
ry irritation should I expose myself and my cause ! 

Ought I to wonder or complain, if the most important 

instructions, connected with such ungracious severity, 

should be heard with indifference, or rejected with con- 
es ; : 

From these remarks it appears, that we ought not 
lightly to charge the apostles with error. But suppose 
that it should be proved, what indeed some sincere Chris- 
tians have allowed, that the apostles have erred in some 
quotations, some statements, and some opinions ? What 
follows? That they did not receive from God the reli- 
gion they taught? By nomeans. This religion is some- 
thing quite distinct from these quotations, statements, and 
opinions. Give up all these, and not one truth of Chris- 
tianity will be impaired; and what is more, not one fact 
on which it rests will be shaken. ‘The apostles, indeed, 
will in this case appear to have been men, whose memo- 
ries and reasoning powers sometimes failed them; but 

‘does this destroy their credibility? Shall we reject 
their testimony to facts, about which they could 
not have been deceived, because in some minute 
and unimportant circumstances, their recollections 
might have been indistinct? Who, that has ever 
attended a court of justice, or has read different narra- 
tives of the same events, does not know, that the most 
credible and faithful witnesses sometimes fail of perfect 
correctness ? Reject all testimony which labours under 
this defect, and you put an end immediately to the admin- 


25 


istration of the laws, and to the delightful confidence of 
social lifex—Let me further ask, are we authorized to 
deny, that the apostles received their religion from God, 
because they may have sometimes employed insufficient 
arguments or illustrations? By no means. It is one 
thing to state facts and doctrines with fidelity and clear- 
ness, and another to reason about them with profoundness 
and accuracy. The best witnesses may be unskilful logi- 
cians, and may frequently mistake on subjects which do not 
belong to their testimony. For instance, the apostles to il- 
lustrate and confirm the resurrection, have compared it 
to the developement of the seed, which they tell us dies 
in the earth. Now later discoveries in philosophy have 
taught us, that the seed does not die in the strictest sense 
of the word ; and infidels have triumphed in this igno- 
rance of the sacred writers. But will any one be so ab- 
surd as to argue, that because these men may have adopt- 
ed a popular error about vegetation, and applied it to 
the resurrection, they are therefore unworthy of confi- 
dence, when they relate to us what they repeatedly heard, 
and felt, and saw? Wesee then, that even if we should be 
compelled to admit the objection, that the apostles some- 
times erred, our religion would remain uninjured. Mis- 
take is very consistent with soundness and uprightness of 
mind. Grant to the apostles this character (and they un- 
doubtedly possessed it) and we need nothing more. Such 
mien were as worthy of confidence, when they related what 
had been offered to their senses, and were as fitted to re- 
ceive the simple doctrines of Christianity, as if they had 
lived in an age of greater light, and had cultivated their 
reasoning powers in the schools of philosophy. I even 
think that this objection recoils on the head of its authors, ~ 
and may be made to give support to the cause it was in- 
a 


26 


tended to destroy. Did the first preachers of the gos-" 
pel fall into so many popular errors, and.-call to their aid so 
many feeble arguments? Whence is it then that, on sub- 
jects most interesting to human nature, they adopted and 
every where preached sentiments, which directly opposed 
the current of popular opinion, and which transcended in 
purity and sublimity whatever was taught around them ? 
How is it that these men, livingas they did among a 
selfish and narrow people, a nation of formalists, 
whose religion was little more than a show and ceremony, 
yet imbibed and promulgated a new system, which en- 


joins a pure, simple, and spiritual worship of God, and +h 


breathes a universal charity ? 

4. Christianity deserves serious and respectful atten- 
tion, if we consider the wonderful rapidity with which it 
was spread through the world, and the unexampled tri- 
umphs it obtained over error and superstition. It cer- 
tainly is not easy to account for these facts, without beliey- 
ing that this new religion came from God, and was prop- 
agated by men whom he aided and endowed with mirac- 
ulous powers. I know the answer which is made to 
this—that success is no proof of the truth of a religion, 
because false religions have succeeded. Mahometanism, 
we are told, triumphed as rapidly as Christianity. This 
is indeed true; mere success is no proof of God’s aid. 
But success under such circumstances as those under 
which Christianity was first preached ; success without a- 
ny human means; success in opposition to all human pow- 
er; this does seem to demand and to prove divine inter« 
position. We indeed believe Mahometanism false, not- 
withstanding its progress; and why? Because we sce 
the causes of its progress. We sce the deceiver joining 
arms to artifice, brandishing in one hand the sword, and 


27 


extending the Koran in the other; and we see in the state 
of the world many aids and facilities to the propagation 
of such a religion as he taught. But in the case of 
Christianity, we see no warrior, no hosts, no conflicts, 
and no adaptation to the civil or religious condition of 
mankind. The only blood which flows, is that of its min- 
isters. They go forth poor, friendless, without eloquence, 
without power, preaching a doctrine which offended alike 
the Jew and the Gentile, which was accommodated to 
no human interest, and no human passions. We see 
them every where opposed, and see their followers per- 
secuted and scorned—and yet they succeed ; they change 
the form of society ; they change the religion of nations ; 
they shake the ancient and venerated temples of heathen- 
ism. Never was such a change wrought. We ask, 
whence their success? We see no human power at all 
proportioned to this effect. All history presents nothing 
parallel with the diffusion of Christianity, and all the 
attempts to explain it by merely human causes are, to my 
mind, utterly insufficient. Now such a religion, to say 
‘the least, has claims to very serious attention. It is not 
to be discarded with contempt. 
5. This religion deserves attention if we consider its 
spirit, the virtues it inculcates, the character it is suited 
to form. Almost all the enemies of Christianity have 
acknowledged the excellence of its precepts ; aud indeed, 
who can read the New Testament without admiring the 
sublime piety, the divine charity, the elevated sentiments, 
which it every where enjoins 2. ‘This religion is most ob- 
viously intended and suited to refine and ennoble human 
nature, to soften its asperities, to allay its anger, to hum- 
ble its pride, to eradicate its selfishness, to break its un- 
governed lusts, to clothe and adorn it at once with the 


28 


mildest and the most heroic virtue. Does not such a 
religion deserve respect ? Does it bear no stamp of divin- 
ity ? SNe | 
' An objection has sometimes been made to the — 
morality of the gopel—that it is extravagant, or requires - 
virtues better fitted for angels than for men. It calls us 
to love our enemies ; to turn our cheek to the smiter; to 
lay up treasures not on earth, but in heaven. To this 
objection it may be answered, that the morality of the 
gospel is to be gathered, not from a few passages taken 
separately, but from the general strain of our Saviour’s 
discourses ; and we should also remember, that the fig- 
ures and metaphors, which Jesus employed, are not to be 
received in their literal sense, but with that latitude, 
which figurative language always requires. The sober. 
est writer may be made to appear extravagant, if every 
expression is to be interpreted with the utmost rigor, 
Let us follow these obvious rules of common sense; and 
the precepts of Jesus will indeed appear to enjoin a sub-— 
lime virtue, but still such a virtue, as suits our nature, | 
and can alone make us truly happy. 10 
It has sometimes been objected to the Christian pre- 
cepts, that they enjoin a morose, retired, and solitary pie- 
ty. A grosser misrepresentation cannot be uttered, 
What? Shall Jesus be charged with an unsocial piety, 
when he expressly taught men, that God prefers mercy 
to sacrifice, and so continually enjoined an active philan- 
thropy ? I could much more easily prove, that he exalt. 
ed benevolence above piety, than the reverse. Who, 
that reads his gospel, can imagine himself called to fly 
from the world, and to worship God in perpetual retires 
ment? Whocan read it, and not feel himself bound by 
new ties to his fellow creatures? Let then the excels 


29 


lent spirit of Christianity teach us to regard it with re- 
spect. 

6. The effects, which Christianity has actually produc- 
ed in the world, entitle it to respectful attention. I 
know that infidels have collected with care the persecu- 
tions, wars, and pious frauds, in which Christians have 
been engaged, and have charged all these on their reli- 
gion. This mode of attack is most disingenuous and 
dishonourable. Christianity is made to answer for the 
persecutions of its professors, when it is known to enjoin 
kindness and forbearance towards the erring and sin- 
ful. It is made to answer for the wars of Christians, 
when it is known to breathe nothing but peace. It is 
made to answer for the usurpation of its ministers, when 
it is distinguished from other religions, by investing its 
ministers with no power over their brethren, and by rebuk- 
ing with indignant severity the desire of spiritual dom- 
ination. Christianity, it is true, has been employed as 
an instrument by the turbulent and aspiring: butisthere - 
any blessing which has not been abused? What reli- 
gion can be given, which hypocrites may not pervert ? 
Let me ask those, who speak of the unhappy influence 
of Christianity, whether persecution, and war, and priest- 
craft had no existence before this religion was heard of ? 
Did Christianity bring into a peaceful and happy world 
tumult and bloodshed? No: it found the earth filled 
with violence and guilt; and all that can be objected to it 
is, that it did not immediately extirpate the bad passions 
from the human heart, that many of its professors con- 
tinued as wicked as before, and even employed their re- 
ligion as a cloak for their vices. But is it God’s method 
to work immediate changes in society ? Is it not more 
reasonable to expect from him a religion, which will grad- 


30 


ually renew the face of the world? and precisely such a 
religion is Christianity. It has silently and gradually 
been operating for good among the nations. What im- 
mense and incalculable benefit has it conferred, in deliy- 
ering so many countries from the worship of false and 
impure deities! Wherever it has prevailed, it has breath- 
eda mild and charitable spirit, before unknown; given 
refinement and courtesy to manners; founded many be- 
nevolent institutions; banished many gross and cruel 
habits; exalted the female character, and thus changed 
the face of domestic life. It is an undoubted fact, that 
the nations professing this religion have attained a degree 
of civilization, and of moral and intellectual improvement, 
never reached before. ‘That Christianity has contribut- 
ed largely to this effect, no one who understands its spir- 
itcan doubt. ‘The only hope, which we are permitted to 
cherish, of the further progress of society, of a happier 
and more improved condition of the human race, is 
founded on this religion. No forms of government, no 
institutions of policy, can avail’ much, whilst the char- 
acter and tempers of men. are unchanged; and Chris- 
tianity is beyond all dispute the most powerful cause 
which has ever yet operated on human character, and 
tends to form the very virtues which adorn and bless so- 
ciety. uri 
7. Another consideration, which entitles Christianity 
to serious and respectful attention is, that it has been em- 
braced, and honoured, and defended by the best and 
greatest men who ever lived. Christianity is not the re- 
ligion merely of the vulgar, of the weak and ignorant, 
on which the wise and refined have ever looked with dis- 
dain. For centuries it has been the only religion of the 
most enlightened nations, and its warmest patrons have 


31 


been found in the most enlightened classes of society. 
The profoundest philosophers, to whose penetrating eye 
nature has revealed her mysteries, and to whose laborious 
investigations we owe the extension of human knowledge, 
have bowed with reverence before the Saviour, and have 
confessed the inferiority of their discoveries to the bright- 
ness of the light which he brought from heaven; and 
not only the wisest and greatest, but the best and purest 
of men, have repaired with delight to Jesus, and have 
acknowledged, that from him their virtues have derived 
a strength, incitement, and support, which no other sys- 
tem could afford. The pages of Christian history are 
crowded with names, on which we delight to dwellas the 
ornaments and boast of our nature. You, who turn with 
contempt from Jesus, remember, that such men as New- 
ton and Milton were happy to sit at his feet, and to con- 
secrate their sublime faculties to the promotion -of his 
cause. 

I do not mean to urge this as a conclusive argument 
for the truth of Christianity. You are not required to 
believe this system, merely because great and good men 
before you have believed it ;—the great and good may 
err. Examine for yourselves. Do not borrow your 
faith implicitly from others. But the fact on which I 
have dwelt, the respect which has been paid by the most 
excellent men to Christianity, should teach you to exam- 
ine it with respect, and should teach you to frown on 
those who would hold it up to contempt. A religion 
which enlists such men among its friends, must carry 
some marks of truth; it must breathe an excellent 
spirit. 

If indeed Christianity had been received by the great 
and good, without examination, if it had been forced on 


32 


their unreflecting minds in childhood, and if inquiry in- 
to its truth had ever afterwards been forbidden them, 
then this argument would lose much of its force. But 
Christianity has not been thus sheltered from inquiry. | 
It has long been open to discussion, and has had subtle 
and ingenious opposers. Every objection has been ex- 
posed to public view ;—and still the religion has main- 
tained its power over the greatest and purest minds. 
This may be considered an advantage of the age in which 
we live. Christianity is not now called, for the first time, 
to contend for its existence. Had its truth never been 
questioned before, we might fear for the result of inqui- 
ry. We should not know the weapons with which our 
faith might be assailed. But this uncertainty is remov- 
ed. Christianity has passed the trial. Its enemies have 
spent their strength upon it, and it remains unhurt. 
Conscious guilt, ever anxious to overthrow religion, that 
it may bury its fears of retribution under the ruins; and 
pretended philosophy, ever anxious to raise a name by 
demolishing what has been revered for ages, have long fix- 
ed their unhallowed eyes on the sacred fabric of Christian- 
ity. They have explored its foundations, penetrated its 
recesses, and surveyed its massy columns, in the hope of 
discovering some vestige of decay, some trembling and | 
defenceless part, against which to direct their assaults: ~ 
But the venerable edifice remains, as in past ages, the 
admiration of the wise and virtuous, the refuge of the 
humble and distressed. It still rises in simple majesty, 
founded on adamant, perfect in its proportions, impress- 
ed with the skill and power of its heavenly Builder. 
The storms have beaten on it, and passed by, and left not 
a trace of their fury. We may now dismiss our fears 
for our religion, New assaults are not to be anticipated. 


35 
After the scrutiny which Christianity has sustained, new 
objections cannot easily be invented. New books in- 
deed appear, but they are only new editions of the old. 
We have arguments retailed to us as novel, which have 
been again and again confuted. We have old contro- 
versies revived, which have already been settled. Infidel- 
ity can only gather up and hurl anew the weapons, which 
have fallen blunted from the shield of Christianity. Is 
not a religion which has been so assailed, so proved, and 
‘still so honoured by the wise and good, deserving of seri- 
ous and respectful attention ? 

8. I might add much to what has now been said, but I 
have only time to offer one more consideration, which 
should induce a serious attention to the claims and evi- 
dences of Christianity. Itis this; Christianity is the on- 
ly religion which is left us. If we give up this, we have 
no other system to which we can repair. No other has 
claims to be compared with this. If God did not speak 
by Jesus Christ, then he has never spoken to our race. 
We have no instructer but nature, a light not to be de- 
spised, but which casts only a faint and trembling ray on 
subjects most interesting to humanity. 

In giving up Christianity how much shall we lose! 
This religion, you will remember, rescued your ances- 
tors, and thus it has rescued you from heathenism. To 
this religion you owe whatever pure and generous con- 
ceptions you have formed of God. It has placed before 
you this great and venerable Being, in the mild and ten- 
der character of your father in heaven, and taught you 
to approach him with sentiments of confidence and love. 
Does this religion deserve no gratitude? Let its light 
be extinguished, and who will assure us that the darkness 

5 


i 34: 


will not overspread the world ? 

It is Christianity, which has elevated our + $e 
respecting our nature and destination, which has t 
us to hope for the mercy of our Creator, and to anticipa 
_ a happier and purer life. To Jesus, the conqu or of 
death, we owe the sure hope of immortality. Let * 
gospel be torn from us, and what new sadness and gloom 
would gather over the countenance of death, and over 
the future prospects of our race. How little consolation 
does nature give us, when we commit to the cold and 
silent tomb the mouldering dust of a fellow-bemg! Is 
that teacher to be scorned, who in the language of con- 
scious greatness says to us, “I am the resurrection and 
the life !”’ 

The loss, which we should endure in losing Chie 
tianity, cannot be expressed. How many minds would 
be deprived of the only foundation, on which their vir- 
tues and their hopes are reared! How many passions, 
which this religion has softened and restrained, would 
break forth with new power! How many wounds, 
which it has bound up, would bleed afresh! Remove 
the influence of Christianity from society, and with it, 
how much tenderness of heart, and purity of manners, 
‘and active charity, and domestic love and happiness 
would disappear! ‘Surely we should wish such a reli- 
gion to be true, and should give to its evidences a can- 
did, and serious, and respectful attention. Surely such 
a religion should not be treated with contumely, and 
held up asa mark for ridicule and scorn! Is it possi- 
ble that any can assail it with dztterness, and feel an ea- 
gerness for its destruction! What have infidels to 
give us in its place? When they have blotted out the 


35 

delightful promise of immortality from the page of the 
gospel, whither will they direct us to learn this consol- 
ing and ennobling truth? Whom have they to offer us 
in the room of the pure and benevolent Jesus? Alas! 
they have no guide and no comforter to give us. They 
send us to nature; and some of their number have dis- 
covered from nature, that there is no God, no futurity, 
that we are creatures of chance, creatures of a day, with- 
out hope and without resource. This is the tremen- 
dous abyss to which infidelity invites our steps. 

My friends, these remarks have been designed to 
confirm the faith of Christians, and to persuade those who 
doubt of Christianity (if to such I speak) to give a seri- 
ous, patient, and respectful attention to its claims and ev- 
idences. That such inquiry will result in a sincere faith 
I cannot doubt. I hope that these discourses will help 
to impress you, my hearers, with the value of Christianity. 
It is a religion which you cannot prize too much; a reli- 
_ gion most mercifully adapted to this world of sin, error, 
affliction, and death; a religion which offers you forgive- 
ness, and brings life and,immortality to light ; which re- 
commends universal goodness to your love and pursuit, 
and offers aid from heaven to your prayers and holy ef- 
forts; a religion which prophecy announced, and mir- 
acles confirmed; which fell from the lips, shone in the 
life, and was sealed with the blood of the spotless Son of 
God; a religion which brings peace to the troubled con- 
science, implants and cherishes the best dispositions to- 
wards God and his creatures, gives cheerfulness and reso- 
lution to the practice of duty, exalts and purifies the 
pleasures of prosperous life, and imparts unfailing con- 
solation in sorrow, and in the anticipation of death. No 
man, in his last hours, ever mourned that he had believed, 
and felt, and practised as a Christian. 


ley, and aie the external and internal evidence for the book of A Act oo % 
the epistles of Paul, and he will consider the genuineness of these books 3 
placed beyond dispute. But if he receive these books, he will, of co course 
admit the genuineness of Luke’s gospel, because the Acts is a contin 
tion of this gospel, and implies its prior existence. But if these books, ¥ viz. 
Luke’s gospel, the Acts, and Paul’s epistles, are acknowledged to be the 
productions of their reputed authors, the controversy with the infidel on this 
point is atan end. These books contain all the doctrines and all the facts, 
which constitute and support the Christian religion. | The other writing 


: of 
the New Testament may all be resigned, and our religion and its eviden- 
ces will be unimpaired. But let not the inquirer stop here. Let him read 
the 9th chapter of Paley’s evidences, or almost any of the beoks referred to 
in the preface, and he will find a body of proofin support of the genuine- 
ness of the other gospels, which would be thought sufficient to establish the 
genuineness of any other writings. The best critics tell us, that the great- 
est part of the Greek and Roman classics are received without a doubt on 
testimony much inferior to that which is urged in favour of the sacred wri- 
ters. It deserves remark, “that Celsus in the second century, Porphyry in 
the third, and the emperor Julian, all of them men of learning, and bitter 
enemies to the Christian religion, allow the genuineness of the books of 
the New Testament.” Porphyry, it should be remembered, was not defi. 

cient in critical acuteness. We find him examining with minuteness the 
book of Daniel, and endeavouring to prove, that it was written after the 
time of the prophet, and after the events which it predicts, that he might 
thus invalidate its claims to inspiration. Would not such an adversary 
have laboured to evade the proof, which is deriyed to ‘Christianity fro 


Saviour’s prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, if he could’ have ad- 


duced any plausible reasons for the opinion, that the books, which contain it, 
wert written, as is pretended, after that catastrophe? How much more 
easily could he have collected arguments against these books, than against. 
the more ancient book of Daniel; and how much stronger ‘motives had 
he for fixing, if sana the charge of forgery on the writings of the pall 
Testament ? f hitoSee ¢ 


- 


DR. WOODS'S 


FOREIGN MISSIONARY SERMON. 


THE PROFITS OF THIS SERMON WILL BE DEVOTED TO 
THE SUPPORT OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 


H 


: yee ie 
SERMON 
en ee AT THE 


TABERNACLE IN SALEM, 


ORDINATION 


OF 


THE REV. MESSRS. 


x 
SAMUEL NEWELL, A.M. ADONIRAM JUDSON, A, M. 
SAMUEL NOTT, A.M. GORDON HALL, A. M. 
AND LUTHER RICE, A.B. 


MISSIONARIES 


TO THE HEATHEN IN ASIA. 


UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE 


_ BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. 


BY LEONARD WOODS, D.D. 
| ABBOT PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY IN THE THEOLOGICAL 
| 


| 


SEMINARY IN ANDOVER. 


BOSTON: 
PRINTED AND SOLD BY SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, CORNHILi. 
P1812; 


INTRODUCTION. 


Ir seems proper that, in this place, some account should 
be given of the origin, and progress of that Missionary 
zeal, which has issued in sending messengers of peace 
to publish the gospel in the eastern hemisphere. 

It has*been often said, within a few years past, that 
Christians in America ought to support missions among 
the heathen in Africa or Asia; but the writer of these 
paragraphs is not able to state, whether any young 
man of suitable education seriously thought of engag- 
ing personally in such a mission, earlier than about four 
years ago. About that time some of the young men 
mentioned just below, while pursuing their studies 
in different places, and unacquainted with each other, 
made missions among the heathen a subject of delib- 
€rate and prayerful contemplation, and resolved to 
devote themselves to this service, should Providence 
prepare the way. They considered it doubtful, how- 
ever, whether they should have an opportunity of en- 
gaging in this employment; and, in the mean time, 
they sedulously examined, and re-examined the sub- 
ject, and used every advantage in their power to gain 
information respecting the state of the heathen, and 
the encouragement to preach the gospel among them. 

In the spring of 1810, these young gentlemen, with 
others who joined them, disclosed their views to the 
Professors in the Theological Seminary at Andover, 
where they were then prosecuting their studies. In 
June following, they applied for advice and direction 
to the General Association of Massachusetts Proper, 
then sitting at Bradford. The application was made 
in writing, and signed by Messrs. Adoniram Judson, 
Samuel Nott, Samuel J. Mills, and Samuel Newell. 
They state the history of their views and feelings on 
the subject, and make several inquiries, with respect to 


6° 

which they solicit the advice of th 
tchatchare nor ait 
The Association appointed a Co 
port on the application; and, in ¢ 
report, proceeded to institute a Bo 
ers for Foreign Missions, “for the p 
ways and means, and adopting and pre 
ures for promoting the spread of th 
lands.” The Board was compose 
well known to the Christian public. 
advised the young gentlemen “‘to wa 
Providence in respect to their great 
sign.” Ne 
The Board of Commissioners h 
ing at Farmington, (Con.) Sept. 5, 1810. 
ing a Constitution, and appointing offic 
measures to obtain the best information 
er, respecting the state of unevangelizec 
ly approved the readiness of the young 
Andover to enter upon a foreign mission; 
them to pursue their studies “till further info 
relative to the missionary field be obtained, | 
finances of the institution will justify the appoin 
They also prepared and published an addres 
subject of missions. + 
The Board metagain, at Worcester, Sept. 
During the year which had elapsed, the ’ 
‘Committee of the Board examined and a 
young gentlemen, as future missionaries t 
viz. Messrs. Judson, Nott, and Newell, 
and Mr. Gordon Hall, also a student at Ai 
Mills, had not finished his theological edu 
for that and other reasons was not examin 
brethren. ‘The Committee also sent Mr. 
England to confer with the Board of Direct 
London Missionary Society and to procure i 
information on the subject of missions, which 
be so well procured in any other way. Fh 
comed with great cordiality by the Diree 
paged to take him and his three brethren 
care, and to allow them salaries, and em 


7 


u mission, if the funds of the American Board should 
not be competent for their support. 

The Board appointed the four brethren, above named, 
missionaries “to labor in Asia either in the Birman 
empire, in Surat, or in the Prince of Wales’s Island, or 
elsewhere, as, inthe view of the Prudential Committee, 
Providence shall open the most favorable door,” and 
advised them ‘‘to wait the further intimation of Provi- 
dence as to support from this country in the proposed 
Foreign Mission.” ee 

At this meeting Messrs. James Richards, and Edward 
Warren, students at Andover, offered themselves to the 
Board for the missionary service, and were approved 
and taken under the patronage of the Board. 

The missionary brethren were, in the mean time, 
fitting themselves for their future arduous employment. 
Messrs. Newell and Hall attended courses of medical 
lectures, both at Boston and Philadelphia, in order to 
be more extensively useful among the heathen. 

About the middle of last month it was found that a 
ship was soon to sail from Philadelphia to Calcutta. 
No time was to be lost. Robert Ralston, Esq. of Phil- 
adelphia, with that zeal for missions and for Christian- 
ity which he has long manifested, took an active and 
very friendly part in facilitating the embarkation of the 
young men, both by procuring passages for them on very 
favorable terms, and by making a generous donation. 
Messrs. Newell and Hall hastened to meet their breth- 
ren at Salem, where it was determined, by the Pruden- 
tial Committee, to have them ordained, and to send 
them immediately to the field of Missionary labor. Mr. 
Luther Rice, who had been a student in the same 
Theological Seminary, and was then employed asa candi- 
date for the ministry, offered himself to the Prudential, _ 
Committee to join the mission, and was approved and 
accepted. t | 

The Prudential Committee sent to several neighbor. 
ing churches, and convened a Council* at Salem, on 


“The Council was composed of pastors and delegates from the North | 
Congregational church in Newburyport, the Congregational church in | 
Charlestown, and the Tabernacle church in Salem; also of the Rey. Dr. | 


| 


8 


‘agmeaiadt a 

the 6th. instant, at which time and place theyfive young 
gentlemen were solemnly consécrated to the service of 
God in the gospel Ministry among the heathen. On 
this occasion the following Sermon, Chabge, and Right 
Hand of Fellowship, were delivered before a crowded 
and deeply affected auditory. It is confidently believ- 
ed, that such impressions were made by the solemni-— 
ties of the day, as will be lasting and salutary. Three » 
of the persons ordained, viz. Messrs. Nott, Hall, and 
Rice, set out the same evening to go with all practica- 
ble haste to Philadelphia.* The other two sailed with — 
their wives from Salem, on the morning of Wednes-— 
day the 19th. instant, commended by the prayers of 
multitudes to the gracious protection of God.f 

The issue of this mission must be cheerfully left to 
the disposal of Him, who is the Lord of the universe, - 
and who will ultimately establish his kingdom through 
the whole earth. mt 


Griffin, pastor of Park Street church in Boston, and the Rev. Dr. Woods, 
Professor at Andover. The Rev. Professor Stuart was invited to attend, 
but was necessarily prevented. ' a 


*Mr. Nott was married on his way to Philadelphia and took his wife 

with him; the other two went single. on eet mek? 

They went on board the ship Harmony, (in which they had taken their — 

passage,) on the evening of the 18th. instant, and probably sailed from 
rate 


Newcastle the next morning. ) 


+ They sailed in the brig Caravan. — ; 
FEBRUARY 29, 1812. vere ‘Sela B 


ee 25 i Sind 255 That? 
i RY GR fee 
a. enemas ey 
» Aokgeiteareiel? fuss 
* jae ie Bboy 3 We 
. caters Vee A 
AO 
i ee bette: 
cath Ra? «: 


Pea) cite ght > 


Marten ns Atel ophy Hane: soniisiegite > 


I : , OWA MALDSRRO fe vp ee 
j os 
come. See mt PEAR gee cia ta 2a 

P . P| aa & 

Mk a SR. cos sae or tail! 
La . Le. iene ink * - ‘ . 
an } ™ Vee SORE RC SU RT, tae 
oad alesstriltvas: va ol soi ena 


2s bauer ee Be 


; SERMON. i wee 


D010 eS AN Be. 
1 FI Vea i? 

God be merciful unto t us, and bless us; and cause 
his face to shine upon us. THAT THY WAY MAY BE 
KNOWN UPON EARTH, THY SAVING HEALTH AMONG 
ALI. MaMRGNS:: » Let the people praise thee, O God; 
let all the people praise thee. Let the nations be 
glad and sing for joy. Let the people praise thee, 
O God; let all the people praise thee. God shall 
bless tis; and ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH SHALL 
FEAR HIM. 


Can any real Christian be a stranger to the enlarged 
views, the benevolent desires, and pleasing anticipa- 
tions of the pious author of this Psalm? It cannot surely 
be necessary to inform my audience that every 
_ true worshipper of God resembles him in love, and 
can be satisfied with nothing short of all that infinite 
love designs. The Christian has a heart to feel for his 
fellow creatures. He takes into account their tem- . 
poral comfort, and endeavors to promote it;—their 
| temporal wants and sufferings, and does what in him 
lies to relieve them. But, ‘when their spiritual inter- 
est is before him; when he contemplates the value of 


~~ 


| 


| 


10 


their souls, and the prospect which the gospel opens 
of immortal happiness in_ the world to 
bowels of compassion are moved; his tenderest “affe 
tions kindled; pure and heavenly love pervades 


warms his soul. He longs for the : en oo 
his kindred and friends, of his country @ the world. 
His hearts desire and prayer to God is, that all men 
may be saved,—that all human beings may” forsake 
their evil ways, and turn to the Lord; that his king- 
dom may come, and his will be done on eart as 
done in heaven. With this holy affection reignin 
his heart, the fervent, devoted Christian ‘presents hi 
self a living sacrifice unto God; and counts L & privi 
lege to do and to suffer any thing “for thé advan 


ment of his cause. He is ready to “endure all things — 


for the elect’s sake, that they also thay obtaat! th $a 


He is as steady to his purpose, as resolute, a¢ ive, 
patient in pursuit, as the restless miser, or the ambi 


tious conqueror. And as their desire of wealth ‘ind : 


of conquest is insatiable and unbounded; s0%8 hisde- 
sire for the diffusion of Christian knowle 1d ha 
piness. Every degree ‘of sticcess atteriding the “dispen- 


sion among the weakest and meanest’ of “mankind, : 


sation of the gospel, even a single instance of ¢onver- | 


yields him the purest pleasure, But this pleasun 
increases desire. His enjoyment of the s00d 4 
attained urges him on to the pursuit’ of 4s 


progressive enlargement of the kingdomi'6f Christ will 
constantly enlarge the benevolence of his heart.” | 
there is a nation or tribe under heaven “not! Sub- : 


-— 4 


| 


il 


a to Christ; the i htened, | fervent Christian can- 
able object is, chat the knowl- 
of the Lord. may fill the earth. His heart beats 
high for the conversion of the seorld. 
.. This, my dear brethren, is the true spirit of our holy 
religion... This is the. the affection which glows in every 
new born soul. This is t he principle which governs 
and _animates the church of Christ. 
_ Lshall not.make it my business to prove. the exis- 
tence of an affection so diffusive and generous, in the 
hearts of Christians. Nor shall I endeavor to enter- 


tain you -with ingenious speculations on the theory of 
bene semen: with florid declamations on its beau- 


| ty ould be : as sounding brass and a tink- 


1,—On_ this new and very interesting oc- 
casion, my object is to rouse you to BENEVOLENT EX- 
srgion. . I would persuade you to act, decidedly and 
zealously to act under the influence of Christian love. 
_ excite you by motives which no follower. of 
Christ can resist, ° TO MAKE THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL, 
AND, THE, CONVERSION OF THE WORLD, THE OBJECT OF 
MOUR EARNEST AND INCESSANT PURSUIT. 
coMy first. motive is THE WORTH OF SOULS. Man, a 
sterday, frail.as the tender grass, is made 
for 1mMorraxiry.. The lamp which the Lord hath 
lighted up in his breast, will burn forever. The mind 
will. be. ever vigorous and. active. No Jabor can 
exhaust it... No length of ages can waste its Vigor. 
No pressure of guilt or suffering can destroy its actiy- 
ity. Such a mind, destined to exist and act forever. 
destined to the bliss of heaven, or the pains of hell, 
lives in every human being, i in the savage as well as 
inthe citizen; in the heathen, as well as in the Chris- 
tian; in the Hindoo, the Chinese, and the Hottentot, 
aswell as the. polished European or American.—In 


12 


the name of him who. died ae 
you, O Christians, to labor for the ae 
that will never die. Of what cotididherabiebetl 
tion, climate, color, language, sorimalarselidiinid 
manners? Here all distinctions vanish, ‘Learned and 
ignorant, refined and rude, honorable and 
on a level in point of accountableness to God and im- 
mortality of soul. Rise then, above/all) the distine- 
tions which misguide our judgments: and our hearts, 
and seek the salvation’ of this great family of im- 
mortals. nite aie’ este pale? 
In some favored hours of divine illu ination. you 
not seen, have you not felt the ineffable preciousness of 
your own souls? Have you not cast a’ ery th 
dross for eternal salvation? And has not the grace of 
God taught you to love your neighbor as yourselves? 
See the poor, degraded Africans. See the 
children sacrificed in the Ganges: S06 the’ throngs 
of miserable pilgrims pressing forward todevotethem- 
selves to the impure and . sanguinary worship of Mo- 
loch. The souls of all these are as precious a8 your 
own. The wisdom of God,—the blood of the dying 
Savior has so declared. .Do you love your own souls, 
then? and will you not love, theirs?—Change places 
with them, Put yourselves in their. condition, | aind 
them in yours.—You are,then spending your lifétin’a 
Jand of darkness, ignorant.of God, slaves to the basest 
superstition and most hateful vices. _ Moved by: pity 
and love, they send a herald of the cross toypreachisal- 
vation in your ears. He comes and)speaks'to!youjof 
Jehovah and his law; discloses your guilt,and points — 
you to the judgment day.. He preaches.to, you Jesus, 
the Savior of sinners. With trembling, bleeding hearts, 
you go to the Savior, and he gives you reste» (How 
great the salvation! How happy. your. statehe Would i 


ne 


hé Rec slau daaanibiediie 


forever ex 


‘you not love and waste nevarersctat ‘of his grace, 
and those who sent him? Now, if salvation would 


salvation, why riobosidarstte: ppeideanlin ata’ love 
-and gratitude from heathens saved by your labors? — 
Imagine the souls of your kindred in pagan dark- 
‘eseecyshualohap never heard the name of’ Immanuel. 
Imagine your children, parents, brothers, sisters this 
‘moment in the midst of India, sworshippers of the hor- 


iridhidebGupwernadt:: "(Would ‘not your hearts leap for 
earsyoung ministers going to teach 


joy to’see these d 
_ ‘themr'the way of life?’ Would any thing be too pre- 


i part with in order to animate their zeal, and 
‘help them to rescue from ignorance and ruin the ob- 


| ye med But have not the Indians souls as 


ecious as the souls of your’ kindred?_—Nay- rather, 
sale pranetsernccles your kindred; allied to you by the 
‘ties of a’¢ommon nature; offspring of the same heav- 
Father; children of the same family.’ In every 
eing you seé’a brother or a sister. O for- 
“get not the partners of your blood! Send some of your 
hers to your dear kindred in Asta.’ 
a CAP HS eed wiative by which I urge you to seek 
“the conversion of all mankind is tHE PLENTEOUSNESS 
"OF THE PROVISION “WHICH CHRIST HAS MADE FOR THEIR 
“SALVATION. Were there any thing scanty in this pro- 
vision any’ deficiency’ in divine grace,—any’ thing 
“circumscribed in the evangelic offer; our zeal for prop- 
vagating the gospel would be dappresed the tongue 
-and hand of Christian charity would be paralized. But 


“may brethren, the word of eternal trath has taught us 


‘that Jesus tasted death for every man; that he is the pro- 


14 


pitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, butalso for 
the sins of the whole world; that:a:rich feast) jis»pre- 
pared, and all things ready; that whosoever wilh may 
come and take of the water of life freely.) This, great 
atonement is as sufficient for Asiaties and Africans,as 
for us. This abundant provisions made for them as 
well as for us. The door of Christ’skingdomisequally 
open to them and to us. .Unnumbered;millions,of 
our race have entered in; and yet there.is rooms"The 
mercy of God is an ocean absolutely exhaustless;, and 
so far as his benevolence is a pattern.for our imitation; 
and arule to govern our exertions: and. prayers, he 


wills that all men should be saved: »-Christians,you 


have, then, full scope for your pious benevolence: and 


zeal. In your labors and prayers for the.salvation,of — 


men, you cannot go beyond:the bounds fixed:for you 
by the Savior himself. You \are, note straitened) in 
God. You have no occasion to fear 

your zeal and activity will exceed the: 

grace. You have a warrant, from God to strive: for 
the salvation of the whole world. . And:wheneverthe 
preaching of the cross shall stir up. them»thatareslost 
to seek salvation, there salvationwillbe found. Per 
suade the whole empirevof, Birmah, and»-Chinay and 
all the East to come to the gospel, supper,and»they 
will all be supplied;—to, enter into the kingdom; and 
they will all be admitted. Every perishing, sinner.on 
earth would find the same: welcome -withyyourselves. 
In any country or corner of the world, “When ithe 
poor and needy seek water, and there is»noneand 
their tongue faileth for thirst; 1 the Lord willyhear 
them; I the God of Israel-will not forsake them,” ,Re- 
member then, Christians, you. cannotexhaust,the mer- 
cy of God. Exert yourselves to the utmostiforithe sal- 
vation of mankind; your exertions will, toihian hela 


, 15 


the height abidenmiin love. Its length and uA breadth 
will infinitely transcend. your largest benevolence... 
\ The third motive, I shall present, is THE COMMAND OF 
OUR LORD;—“GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH 
THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE.” This command 
is an exact expression of the heart .of Jesus; a display 
of the vastness of his love. It would be very easy to 
show that the obligation of this command is not to be 
confined to the twelve apostles. It is limited to no 
age or nation. The comniand is binding upon Chris- 
tians “always even to the end of the world.” The 
reasons which moved the apostles to preach the gos- 
pel tovevery creature, remain in full force. Nations 
without’ the gospel are as wretched now as they were 
_— ’ Their salvation is as necessary, as enbotents 
and as easily accomplished. 
» Wilhany say this command is clajiiting upon the 
ambassadors of Christ, and not wpon .private Chris- 
fians? It is indeed the duty of ambassadors of Christ 
to-go and preach’ the gospel to all the world. The 


| Messiah is given to be a light to the Gentiles. The 


‘Gentiles must be enlightened in the doctrine of salva- 
tion. They must hear the glad tidings. “But how 
ean they hear without-a preagker? And how can they 
preachyexcept they be sent?” If ministers, must ga 
forth, thechristian world must send them. . If, ‘they: 
must devote their life to the business of evangelizing 
the heathen, the Christian world must support them. 
' Does the thought arise; that the apostles went forth 
without such support? They did;—for there. was no 
Christian nation’ or church, overflowing with, wealth, 
to support'them. But whatever their peculiar circum- 
stances obliged them to do, the general maxim which 
they laid down was, “that. inp moan goeth a aneaens 
at his own charges.” 


16 


“ Bat'l cannot stop to reason. I hake! m 
to your generosity. ‘Those who" go to’ teac 
brethren in pagan Jands, must be maintained.” But at 
present they cannot receive ri ntl" The 
heathen must be converted, and formed into christian 
societies, before adequate provision for ‘the 
of Christ can be expected from them. 
see your missionaries, who have left all to y 
gospel of peace among the poor heathen, reduced to 
the necessity of abandoning their sacred office, and en- 
gaging in servile labor for their daily bread? ‘Will you 
see your apostles, the ambassadors ‘of peace’ from 
America, clothed in rags, and compelled to beg’ or 
starve? And must they tell the heathen ‘that 
thus forsaken of their christian brethren, who have 
enough and to spare? oe Pe 

It is too obvious to need any farther ‘illustration, 
that the christian community at large has a deepens 
cern in the command of Christ, “to go intoall 
and preach the gospel to every creature” ‘urge this 
command of our risen Savior, as absolutely obliging 
you to seek the conversion of the world.” "The'uni* 
versal spread of the gospel, and thé salvation” of the 
ends of the earth is a business in which every christian 
ought to take a part. This gracious injunction 
given by our Lord just before he ascended ‘into 
heaven. It was a most memorable dceasion.” He 
had finished his work on earth, and was’ about'to 
return to his Father and our Father, to his God and 
our God. He knew the superabounding gracé which 
flowed from Calvary; the ruined state”of man, and. 
the saving power of his cross. All nations and ages 
were before him. Then, with the love and authori 
of the King of Zion, he gave the command, 


A 
val eign And cen any,.gne who Pia) the 


of a christian, or of a man, refu e obedience? 

‘ y fe rth motive 2 is derived. from. ‘THE CONDUCT 
OF THOSE WHO, RECEIVED SHE, COMMAND, AND OF 
TIAN MISSIONARIES IN SUGCEEDING TIMss, ‘The 
s “went, forth, and preached, every where.” 
et travel into, various, parts, jof the. idolatrous 
world, preaching the gospel. to the, poor;—planting 


and watering churches; and, encountering fierce and 


cr uel. persecutions, In all their journeyings, labors, 
ad sufierings, their invariable object was, that. God’s 
way, might be known. Upon. earth, and his eel yntoon 
° ations... debra dye, 84 
une, spirit appear edi in the primitive chorehen 
Under the first. sermon which was preached. after, the 
hea oe of Christ, three thousand were conyerted, 
ihabanas fhe fruit of their conversion? We are im- 
told that “they who, believed were together, 
egniink things common; and sold their possessions 
gods, and parted them to all as every one had 
’,From.time to time the churches and. individ- 
wal christians. asaisted _ the apostles in their journies, 
and .contributed in. various ways to the prapaaaiie 
er religion, | 
sellent the spirit A apostles, and of those 
ane converts to the christian faith! Can you help 
feeling the attraction of such examples? Will you not 
imitatethose who beheld the glory of the only be- 
gotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and _re- 
ceived of his fulness? Shall the first apostles and mar- 
__ tyrs of christianity be forgotten? Read the) history of 
their self-denying labors, their deprivations and sac- 
- rifices, thein patience under reproach and torture, ‘and 
their snextaguiahebls zeal for ihe salvation ef sinners. 


18 


Readtoo ithe history. of what +has indater 
doneby the missionaries of Chee 
ea) and “América. And consider 
bc ametpa Jabors, that your dista ta 

vered’ from their idols, and cam 
Sacred: oracles which they have. - nsx . 
While - you revolve these things, 
burn within you? Do you not 
upon the Shia messengers of 2 


their success, waid their erowns of ¢ ere: 
My fifth motive.is HR a e F 
SIGN OF CHRISTIANITY IN, CONTRADIS' 
JUDAISM, AND. ITS | -ADAPTEDNESS) rO BE A UNIVER- 
SAL RELIGION, Brethren, we are fot disciples of Ju- 
daism: But have we not had Pie oe 
and exclusive spirit? Have we not thoug! nt it eno’ 
to enjoy the ‘scriptures and the mini 
among ourselves, without any care them t 
other nations? But why should we indulge feeling 
so. adverse to the Christian dispensation, and limit. th: 
which its divine author has. left. unlimited? Vj 
should we engross.a religion to. whic h all nations 
an equal right, and whieh i is adapted to.universal 
As well might we) think. of engrossing. the common 
light and ap.) Lidia win). on 1 fd BS ai 
The doctrines ‘of Chuistianity are. applicable to all 
men; because all have the same nature, and stand in 
the same relation to God and to one another.” The 
laws of Christianity are suited to govern mankind of 
every nation and climate. . Thesé laws rest, on genetsil 
principles, and extend. equally to. the whole 
race. The corruptions which they. require us, to sub- 
due, ii ilaae in. every child, oF Adenia: 


SE Ser 


o 
a Ig 


dnee, faith, and holiness, which they demaid, are equally; 
the duties of all nations, - All the: promises, ordinan- 
ces, and blessings ‘of the gospel, would. be as precious 
tarenovated pagans) as they are to us. —Why. ‘should 
we withhold such a religion’ from the unnumbered 
millions’ who people the eastern world? -Wewill not, 
brethren. We, who profess to believe and love ¢chris- 
tianity, will not adopt principles and méasures so con+ 
trees to its celestial por atl its png hg pes 
i fe PA ah is 
My sizth motive is sestieeed fc PROPHECY. My 
brethren, has not the notion often insinuated itself mto 
our minds, that all has been done which can be done’ 
for the conversion of the world; and that’ things are’ 
likely to remain much as they are? Or if we have 
not admitted this in theory, has it not been our practi- 
cab sentiment?» When we have looked upon the mil- 
lions of men who are uncivilized, degraded, without: 
Godand without hope, are we not prone to give up 
their conversion as hopeless? And if it is not the lan- 
guage of our lips, is it not of our feelings, that the king- 
dom of Christ will stop where it is; that the obstacles 
inthe way of christianizing the nations of the earth 
até too'great to be siitmounieds and that the most we 
can expect is to maintain the ground already secured.» 
To raise you aboye this sinking discouragement and 
indolence, I will open to you THE PROPHETIC PAGE. 
“He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied.” 
“Gt is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, 
to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the pre- 
served of Isracl;—IJ will also give thee for 4 Licur 1d 
THE GENTILES, that thou mayest be my salvation to 
_. THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. ASK OF ME, AND I WILL 
GIVE THEE THE HEATHEN FOR THINE INHERITANCE, 
| AND THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH FOR THY 


ard to the people. Aun THE: wdireainiilledt: 
‘SHALL SEE THE SALVATION pits acteteso tee 
glorious predictions fail of aecomplisk 
these unchangeable decrees. of ‘he lplegtepbe Sli \ 
trated?_-Heaven and earth shall ‘pass away, (but not 
one jot or tittle of these promises shall fail. ~The: 
mouth of the Lord hath spoken Ryan eli onggiaen ? 
When we survey the idolatrous,. blind, barbarous 
nations of the world, our BaP Peeroeny em oooh nom 
with desponding hearts, can these dry bonesilive?--W 
- forget the everlasting» God, the ‘Lord, the Creator of 
the ends of the earth, who- 
weary. ' We forget that all. nations are in his hands; 
that he fashioneth them as he pk 
conversion of the world is cya ehipeatannti 
think it beyond the power of Gop. Well 
say to us, “Oh ye of litile faith!” —Did 
such despondency when he conferred in 
and blood; but with the ardor oa ang cor, 
and. the fearless fidelity of an apostle, 
word of God in Greece, in Asia, a 
Wickliffe indulge such ‘orlines ae 
Swartz, Eliott, Brainerd?—Away with every»hesitat-, 
ing, unbelieving thought! Is.the a 
ened that it cannot save? Is his grace. 
The great design of God is not yet accomplished, “He 
who died and lives again, is not yet satisfied» Righteen: 
hundred years ago he said;—“And I, if T bevlifted up! 
from the earth, will draw all men unto me” “Andhe * 
said, more than two thousand years ago; Look unto: 
me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; fort 
am God, and there is none else.”Thisword has not; — 
returned unto him void. The wholeChristianworld — 


} nant ent “The wert of mag 
doesnot grow old and ‘decay; ' but is'ever new and 
powerful. Its accomplishment is»gradual, sometimes 
Slow, but always sure!) To him, with whom ‘a thou- 
sand years'are as one day, and dnd ea “alv tlsurteind 
years; the things which he has foretold: lordetermitied, 
are as certain as though actually accomplished. 

Do you then begin to cast your eye over the ose 
and’ ask; How can those benighted places be illumin- 
ated? How can those depraved wretches be converted? 
How can the deaf hear, and the dumb sing?—My 
friends, this is the-very design” of ‘the gospel. These 
are the very effects which it is fitted to produce. 

* Do'you still hesitate, and yield to fear, thinking; 
with gloom and discouragement, that although eigh- 
teen centuries'of the Christian Era have passed away, 
pr part of the world is yet in Mahometan or 

jan'darkness; thinking, too, how few ministers we 
wastbatery for ourselves; how difficult-it is to instruct 
eveii @°small number of heathens, and to guard them 
from//apostasy; when! they become proselytes; how 
bidicult tor civilize savages; how little all past exertions 
have effected; and that we are not to look for mirac- 
ons. Is this the state of your minds? 

And when you hear God, by the mouth of a prophet, 
declaring; “From the rising of the sun even unto the 
going down of thé same, my name shall be ‘great 
among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall 
be offered unto my name and a pure offering; for my. 
name shallbe great among the heathen;” do you 
again despondingly inquire; “how can this great work 
be done?—Such’ unbelief is a dishonor to Gop.—Do" 
_ you say, we must keep the ground, which our ‘relig= 
won nay gained?.—The best’ way to do this i: is; 


a 


92 h 
io gam moréi—Do you say; reese aoe 


ters for our own country?— 
giving partito the tet shall 
be watered also himself.?5 oe Brie lledpes 
«) Why should ‘you: ask: ‘Nowstsisdigetiaaltdbaptanatd 
einicetint the nations can be done® dvanight ‘ask 
you; how could the earth pipe eetaceiie enor . 
be created? How could the heaver 
ed out as a curtain over your heads? -What power 
is it that sustains the world, ae 
tions and changes? Do you talk of ® 
Gop who forms a blade. of grass, and Bes . 
of dew, can as easily convert ~onev amen 
converts one soul, can as easily convert’ a nation 
Every day, in the midst of a 
a power sufficient to save the universe. rg 
to the pagans life and breath, reason andco: 
Who causes their sun to nea 
yield its fruits?—Say no more, then; howe 
work of converting the nations bende naainebaablans 
FOR GOD TO SPEAK THE call 
to bow to his grace, as easily as heean shake theleaves 
of the forest. sand as to’ miraculous’ operations;/wé 
will only ask of God to repeat among the heathen the 
same miracle that was wrought in christianizing your 
ancestors; the same that was wrought in bringing t 
the foot of the cross’ a 
of heaven. (yaoi suoahent) 
My hearers, I must not detain york dthatteieasiok 
forbear to hint at THE OPERATIONS OF DIVINE PROVE 
DENCE AT THE PRESENT ‘TIME. ‘The evénts Of these 
last days are highly animating to the hopes of Chris- 
tians.. ‘The Lord has given the word,/andigteathas — 
been the company of the publishers. Avlarge number _ 
of ministers of different denominations, moved by the 


23 
love of souls, have labored in the gospel where Christ 
had not beemnamed: The multiplication of Bible Sock 
eties in’ Great Britain and America, the liberality and 
zeal they have displayed, and the success which has. 
crowned their unconfined operations, have exceeded 
the most. sanguine-hopes; and we are now reaching 
forward to the blessed time when the Various nations 
of the Eastern world, and’ the Islands of the sea, will 
read in their own tongues the words of eternal life 
mention, as another favorable sign ofthe present times, 
that facilities for the pious education of youth and for 
the general diffusion of Christian knowledge are great- 
Jy increased:—Another most delightful omen ‘is the 
effusion of the Holy Spirit, and the consequent revival 
of réligion in’ several of our Colleges, and ina great 
number of our churches and Societies in different parts. 
At thé same time. the attention of christians is roused, 
in an unparalleled degree, to the interests of the Re: 


’ unpa: 1 
deemer’s kingdom. 4 at 


My feelings also constrain me to speak of it as a'cir- 


: cumstance highly encouraging, that among the friends 


of evangelical religion greater love and harmony have 
begun to appear. Christians of different denomina- 
ions, piscopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, 
Bapti ts, Moravians, new divinity men, and old divin- 
ty m in, have all been more or less disposed to attach 


_ too much importance to the points in which they dif 
_ fer from each other. They have had party spirit. 


They have had narrow prejudices. They have often 


_ been more forward to proselyte to their own sect, 


than to Christ;—to set up themselves, than to do jus- 


tice to others. They have had contention, and strife, 


and evil speaking among them. They have injured 
the truth by discussing the important subjects of disa- 


greemient without due meekness and candor, and by 


24 


laying out,too much strength,on: taasepaniiols, ae 1a 
important... These .thingsI say, honestly,..2 the 
fear, of God. . Christians have, wantedsome,grand,ob-, 
ject to. seize their hearts and an 
some great and common, cause, inthe, PLOMOtLOn «A! 
which they.,might be effectually, pe rifieduf 
and find.a grave for all, thein,jealousiesame 
ties; and_in which the,eternal truths, « J 
might be,,maintained., with, unyielding irmn 
propagated with augmented and uncog 
The sPREAD, OF THE, GOSPEL 
THE WORLD. constitute the very object wanke 
mon, cause, which ought to, unite, a naa 
gun to unite.the, affections, prayers)ame 
great family, of christians, ‘This..harme nizi aber i 
among, the followers.of “Christ, forebodes goc ite Zac 
O. may. it increase, and. diffuse)1 a 
christians of every name shall be,so mpletely, occ 
pied with the Redeemer’s cause, aS, bQs for, ot dine 
Even. the civil revolutions.and. conv 
desolating wars of the. present icles 
For. they, are not. only, suited, to .wathare 
tions from. the perishable.things,of this. 
them. .on, the. immoyeable,ki 
themselves, presages, of the ch rosperity... 
Lord shook all. nations just aman Desixeiof 
tions came. . He has arisen now,to,shake termbly fhe — 
earth; and, we expect the spiritual, comin | 
and the millennial glory, of the ‘sh 
low. 
All the passing events of the civil, anc 
in connexion with prophecy, indicate the appro } 
better days. In many, instances, this. 7 
dency of. things is obvious; and wheres cee, ol 
should be equally strong in faith. God loves thane: | 


25 


and will make all things contribute to its welfare. 
At all times he keeps a steady eye upon the kingdom 
of grace. “In all his works, this is the object most 
dear'to him. ‘Compared to this, the interests of earthly 
kingdoms are nothing. He will build up nations or 
cast them down, cause convulsions and wars, or give 
tranquillity, as he sees will be most conducive’ to the 
extension and final glory ofthe church. = 
‘Dear brethren, can you pursue a more excellent ob- 
ject than the spread of the Gospel and the conver- 
sion of the world? 1 have endeavored to excite you 
to this pursuit by a variety of motives, derived from 
the worth of immortal souls, and the plenteousness of 
the provision which Christ has madefor their salva- 
tion; from the express command of our Lord; from 
the example’ of those who first received it, and of 
others who followed them; from the peculiar design 
of christianity, and its adaptedness to be a universal 
religion; from the spirit of prophecy; and from the 
operations of divine Providence at the present day. 
Are’ younot persuaded by these motives, and others 
which: will readily occur to you, to give yourselves 
tothis great work? Are you not resolved to do every 
pe cei with every thing, to submit to every thing, 
toforward this glorious design of filling the earth with 
the knowledge of the Lord? Yes, I trust many of you 
saytweidre “persuaded; we are resolved. We feel 
that we'are not ‘our own. Lord, what wilt thou have 
us todo? *Wewill no longer live to ourselves, but to 
him who died\for us, and rose again. Lord, make 
use of our talents, our substance, our labors, our suf: 
|. ferings for the welfare of thy church; for the salva- 
tion of those who are perishing in sin.If we for- 
get thee Oh Jerusalem, let our right hand forget her 
1 cunning. rE Mage Saat ft peo ae Pd ‘ 


A 


26 


DEAR YOUNG MISSIONARIES,” lige RE. 

I trust these feelings are yours. — 3 
your lives to the work of making know 
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. We know 
you do not leave your native land, ee 
vot the fairest prospect of PR | 
comfort here. You go,we believe, because the love 
of God is shed abroad in» your’ hearts bythe: Hely» 
Ghost. We fondly look upon you, as chosen vessels 
unto Christ, to bear his name before» the Gentiles. 
Blessed be the Lord God of the Gentiles, that/he hath: 
put this design into your hearts. The cause:in which 
you have enlisted, is’ the cause of divine love.. You 
have chosen the. noblest and most honorable work on. 
earth; more honorable than the laurels of conquerors, 
or the diadems of kings. But itis also arduous and,per- 
‘lous. Who is sufficient to do the work of ‘anapostleto, 
the heathen? When you have seriously contemplated the, 
greatness of this work, you have often-cried out 
ifthy presence go not with us, carry/us- be 
I hope you will never forget, that wethow as Y 
can do nothing. Without the help of: ist, you can 
no more advance his kingdom amongel i 
you can scatter midnight darkness:bya word. He 
that planteth is nothing, and he that wate i ; 


ing. The increase is wholly of God, pana g 
sistancer you will not only fail of success, but-of 1 , 
delity and perseverance.» If you should be: forsaken 
of God, what would your conduct be? and what 
would become of your:mission?—The precious) \ 
of Jesus would’ be blasphemed among the pagans.» 
Your light would go: out in darknessy* ' 
‘plushing would cover ‘the: faces -of your :] 
friends; and their hearts would die within them. |The . 
bright and celestial flame; which has beeriikindlingup> — 


“7 . 


2 


among us,—how would it be extinguished!—My dear 
friends, I would, not distress you;—but you know this 
would be the dreadful result of your mission, if the 
special help of God should not be granted you. .., But if 
orth in the strength of Christ, you will beburn- 
ing and shining lights in regions, of darkness and 
‘death.—We hope to hear good tidings of great joy 
from the East.—Your personal exertions can indeed 
go but a little way. But be not discouraged on this 
account. Think how it will be in Asia a century or 
‘two hence. The kingdom of Christ, which you are 
‘sent to promote toward the rising of the. sun, will. be 
aks nase leayen, which a woman took and. hid. i in 
eé measures of meal till the whole was. leavened. 
‘twill be like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it 
is ‘sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that. be 
aoeinetie ‘But when it is sown it, groweth up, 
and becometh greater than all herbs, , a -shooteth 
Soul int ernches, so that the fowls. of the. air may 
~ lodge*under :the rshadow. of. it... In.some. chosen, re- 
gions, the Lord enable you to plant. this precious, seed. 
pes young men, who have been my beloved pupils, 
faithfully preaching Christ among the. heathen, shail 
= mi E oy 20 mye aap Oh aOR the first fruits. of 


‘¢ 10 ] ran or f divi ine grace. 
4 Dear iiebadl men, I eal wns ie tn ‘hasimaed 
my own by dwelling on the affecting circumstances 
of this parting scene... If you must go, I will animate 
and comfort you... Remember, then, though we must 
leave you, He,whom your soul loveth, will not. The 
God, you will worship on. the plains. of Hindostan, 
‘ewill be the same God, whom you have here, worship- 
ped. in. our Seminary, in the Sanctuary,.and in the 
‘closet... The Savior, whom you will.adore and trust 


‘28 


in there, will be the very Savior, whose ‘glory 
have seen, and of whose fulness se ve recéi 
here. —Go then, dear mnisetolaviti with he 


and may Gs Aumicuty be your PRresri 
and remember you are not' your own. Go, and “de- 
clare the glory of the Lord among’ the hee then, his 
wonders among all people.” Esteem: the reproach — 
of Curist greater riches, than all the wealth of INpial 
The parents and friends you ‘leave behind will never,» 
never forget you, till their hearts are cold"in “deat 
Our earnest affections and prayers will” einai pa vi 
tend you. We shall share with yous in every peril » 
you will encounter by sea and by land.” All’'the sue» 
cess you obtain, and all the joy you partake, will be ” 
ours. Every sorrow that melts you, and every” pang 
that distresses you, will also be ours. We Shall ofte mM 
meet you at the mercy seat, where you i 08 dle 
find grace to help in time of need. ‘You will be as 
dear to our hearts, and as near to God and to‘heaven 
in Asia, as in America.—If we are friends of God; our 
separation will not be forever, Atthe glorious appear- 
ing of the Son of God, we hope to: see you, dearly be- — 
loved, and those whiom your labors: may’ rescue from 
pagan darkness, at his right hand. \'The"God of | 
mercy grant, that we may then join ‘with’ you,’and 
with a great multitude which noman camnumber) of all. 
nations, and kindreds, and people, and’ tongues, who . 
will stand before the throne and before the Lat 
cry with a loud voice, saying, salvation to’ plo 
who sitteth on the throne, and unto the tapings 
this joyful anticipation, I do, my dear: friends, eheer- 
fully, and most affectionately, bid you, farewell. 
Brethren and friends, these ‘dear “young” men ‘ate 
going to preach to the heathen that'religic on, whichis 


"29 


your comfort in life, your hope in death, your guide 
to heaven. Consider yourselves now looking upon 
them for the last time, before you shall meet them at 
the tribunal of Christ. Assist them in their arduous 
office by your substance, and by your prayers. Bear 
them on your hearts when you draw near to God. 
The decisions of the judgment day will show, how 
cold has been our warmest zeal, how trifling our best 
exertions, how languid our most fervent prayers, com- 
pared to the greatness of the object now before us.— 
The Lord of the universe, in these last days, is about | 
to do a marvellous work; a work of astonishing pow- 
er and grace. The time of his glory is come. He 
will oon destroy all idol worship. ‘The thrones of - 
wickedness he will level with the dust. He will dissi- 
pate the gross darkness, which covers the nations. 
He will send out his light and truth, shed down his 
quickening Spirit, and renovate the world. The earth 
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the wa- 
ters cover the sea. My hearers, God offers you the 
privilege of aiding in this great work of converting the 
nations;—a work, which he has reserved to these last, | 
best days;—a work, which the holy apostles would 
Nost'wish to live again to promote; and in which 
hosts of heaven exceedingly rejoice. The God of 
love offers you the honor and happiness of taking a part 


in this blessed work. Nothing else is worth living for. 

But who would not live, labor, and die for this?” 

“Arise, Shine, Oh Zon, for thy lightis come, and the” 

glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.—And the Gentiles’ 

shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of 
, "Y } 7 : 


thy rising” Amen) d 


nding 28 | Wa hsh | 
ney gett fy oly 
te “eigen a . 
aa im + zi 
‘tie AOL a paren Bi 
HOR ia ot wal Gort 
droit iS Keng 


7 are 
Pie Hay fs 
isha 2 
Sige | eve hi 4 
NAG taal 
‘pal wD Hob acti : 
eat» SRN ag ride” " 
Meese ell est Mriay | 9:1} a opb ae 
“gel uiay phate he 3 ; 
el ek rf le shiowe ph: 
rib. ey 3 es ‘eu may te 
fla. yp omg Me: Nay fig tHe 
thouive,, tal, Hic guia ro ae oo 
a": Map oa iy heey gh r ee ey 
Ate # G vila “aw swt 
eat hiss. eB esa re 
ails 54) By aca nid Diag ; 
ae Hos saetire Bhi Pei 
Ratt +} Whee aa 

od er awl wis ga wurde 
waite et she Nw obi > o° 


Viney, Fy. d, Ty "i ive” nek. ea hee ¥ 


IT OE 


CHARGE. 


DELIVERED BY SAMUEL SPRING, D.D. | 


Pastor of the North Congregational Church in Newburyport. 
: 
DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN, | . 
Wur1e we recollect this memorable’ direction’ of 
Christ to his chosen Missionaries, Go ye into all the world 
and preach the Gospel to every creature: while we also 


_ survey the perishing state of five hundred ‘millions of 


souls in Asia, who are destitute of the appointed means 
of salvation, we are alarmed at the neglect with which 
they have long been treated. For we hear our merci-' 


~ ful God emphatically say, Whom shall I send, and who 


_, will go for us, to enlighten and rejoice them with the 
| glad tidings of salvation? But blessed be his glorious 
name, who has the hearts of all men in his hand, and 


directs their destinations, you, my Brethren, in the view 
of these Divine interrogations, have promptly answered, 

Here: we are, Lord, send us; we are ‘willing to accept’ 
important mission. We will, by the aid of thy gra- 
8 providence, take the parting hand of our parents, ° 
brothers and sisters, and other dear friends; we will bid’ 


| farewell to our native land, and cross the wide ocean to 


Asia, for the sake of preaching Christ to thousands and 
millions of our fellow mortals, who never heard of the’ 


_ Savior. While we are willing to ascend to’heaven from 


that distant clime, we hope, by the grace of God, to be 


_ happily successful in pointing the way to’ some, if not 


to many of the Pagans, who will, without seasonable 
instruction, perish for ever.—For how shall they hear’ 


_ without a preacher? . ‘ 


32 


This, if you know your owm hearts, is your dae, 
and we charitably hope you are not deceived, though 
“the heart is deceitful above all Chines, and des “sat 
wicked.” a 

With our readiness to, embrace : a ee 
to the TSititen. the Board of Commiss fae 
devout Christians are, deeply,. and, it. is. hoped, 1 thank 
fully impressed: and to qualify you for the r ex- 
ecution of it, the Counéil appointed by the Pradential 
Committee ‘have/invested you with the, office of Christ’s 
ministers, by, prayer,and the bag ai: the hands of 
the Presbytery....... ot, lodenk) aah ‘apenas 

» Bemg then, the she a at of Christ, i it i 
pected, agreeably to the established. order of the { a 
tian church, on these .solemn occasions, that you now 
receive the, word of, exhortation, or, the usual, charge, 
which I.am.appointed to administer in the name. and 
behalf of the Council. |, <hr, bes 

Dear Brethren, whether you are duly, qualified f 
the mission, does not, you are sensible, eSle PERG © eithe! 
on. your opinion, or on ours;..but on. Christ’s. , el 
searches the hearts and tries the reins of the. children of, 
men, and will soon reyeal, the. real character of every 
one before the. assembled universe. ‘At this i interesting 
moment, then, yoH, will, aif, Christians, - TELA con-. 


to the Lord, and. solemnly. engage to be, faithful iminis- 
ters of the New Testament, among the Heathen, nations 
and. tribes especially, wherever he shall cast yourJotand 
direct your.exertions... While then,enlisting under, the, 
banner of the Cross in this public, manner, to preach 
the Gospel to the perishing world, you cannot L ie 
member. that you will displease and dishonor Christ, 
that. you will injure your own souls and. | the, souls of the 
heathen, unless you sacrifice pride, ambition, personal 


33s 


onor and emolument, and ¢ every private consideration, 
to the » glory of God in the ‘salvation of souls, For if 


hu an distinctio OriSes P gratification, in any form 
atever, be Cavett : 


anity, it Is directly, yea, 
ae hostile to the character and office of Chris- 
n2 aries. i Te ) einiel Christ, and imitate his 


se of a a few years Confanaees: the ‘adversary 
s _adherents,, by spreading | the light ¢ of the 
se over. _ the extensive regions of the East, ye 
i: ae subjects of deep humilty and much sel 
One man cannot serve two masters. He i 
“nots serve God and mammon, He cannot seek his own, 
a ogh of Christ. You must practise self- 
amr e heathen i ina ‘conspicuous manner, be- 
- ry He 
ou can inculcate it with advantage and success. 
hey -y, by your pious conduct, must be convinced that 
vee eligion, that your God, is preferable to theirs, be- 
fore | will forsake idolatry and embrace the Gospel 
of “Chi Fist. ‘It will be fruitless to tell them about invis- 
| ible thing s, about Heaven and Hell, eternal happiness 
" “and eternal misery, if they do not see in your christian 
‘conduct v what they ought to imitate. You will spend 
your - breath and time in vain, except you let them see 
the real expression of godliness in your uniform exam- 
e. ‘The eyes of the Heathen, you will note, rather 
van cir ears, are the avenues by which you can rea- 
ve access to their hearts. You must let them 
st in his missionaries, before they will atten- 
patiently hear you display his moral excel- 
F you shew them how Christ and his Apostles 
lived, by living. like them, in a meck, humble, and 
heavenly ‘manner, you may then preach his doctrines. 
This, then, we Naiptintically charge you, never, never 
preach the theory of the Gospel, till you have present- 
RAED 5 


" 34 


ed the practice of the Gospel in your owr 
ple. To you, who are Christ’s embassa 
ignorant creatures will look for the 
cified and exalted Redeemer: and i they s him 
in you, they will despise you and turn away | rom 
instructions to the practice of tri iy d\ 


| Ri 


which accompany salvation, et ets 
You will then be exemplary, you will magnify 
office, and let no man, no heathen, despis Sy 
In adapting your instructions to the he: 
will exercise much wisdom and discretion. 
this remark because many missionaries faa oroved 
unsuccessful among the heathen, by crowding them 
with strong meat even before they A he 
milk. The pagan empire is an empire of ignoranc 
delusion, and superstition. ‘They know Jess 3 an no h- 
ing relative to the glorious provisions of ‘the ‘cme 
When you, therefore, begin to instruct them, it wi 
hecessary to give them the most Laie pe py ug 
sons in the rudiments of Christianity. When you also 
attempt to feed them with the bread of life, it must be 
discreetly served in morsels only. For you will | find 
even the hopeful converts but mere ‘babes, who can, di- 
gest nothing but milk, which must also” se 
small quantities. You will be instant in, 
season, both in public and from house tabi 
cottage to cottage, in opening to them, accordi 
apprehension, the being and perfections of G 
vinity of scripture, the contents of his berths 
of man, the necessity and nature. of the atonement, the 
method and the condition of agihepe inter 
Christ in’ the Gospel. ge ee 


35 


If God shall succeed and. bless your labors of love 
among the heathen, in multiplying hopeful converts, 
you will establish churches, break to them the bread of 
life, and apply the ‘seal of the ‘covenant to the. children 
and domestics of bélievers, agreeably to the practice. of 
Abraham the father of the faithful, and the subsequent 
friends of truth, who tread in his steps. An, forming 
churches, you will cautiously admit ‘those, and. those 

only, who exhibit credible evidence that, they, are the 
subjects of God’s special grace in regeneration. _ For, 
if like the degraded priests in the, anterior dispensation, 
you omit making a proper difference between the. holy 
and unholy, between. Christians and sinners, you will 
depreciate the dignity and influence of the Church, and 
offend Christ, who provides sacramental sy! mbols for his 
own children, and not for his enemies. ‘We give you 
this carly exhortation, lest, like some elated pompous 
missionaries, you be tempted toexhibit ‘a more flattering 
account of converts among the heathen than will bear 
the test, when God shall make a separation in the final 
decision between the righteous and the wicked. 

‘Let us, my friends and brethren, act before Christ 
the searcher of hearts in reference to this object on the 

principle of integrity. When you transmit tous the 
ate and success of your mission, tell us the simple 
truth, and nothing but the truth, and then you will 
hot nor | God, and we shall repose entire confidence in 
Taggers 

e need not remind you that the object and the 
consequences of your mission are inestimably im por- 
tant, both to. you, | the church, and a multitude of souls. 
No enterprise. comparable to this, has been embraced 
by the American. church. All others retire before it 
like. the stars. before. the rising . sun. The success of 


36 


the mission, we know depends upon the gene ral aid : 
Divine Providence and God’s special ee . Tf th 
the appointed time for Christ to have the heathe 
Asia for his inheritance, or only to > prepate the way f 
his glory i in that extensive region ‘SE ea gan dar kn 
and ignorance, the ‘mission will pro e Cro} 
with success. But you know, my fiend from 
intimate acquaintance with the history of mis 
exertions, that much depends upon the. wisdom and — 
fidelity ‘of the missionaries. Though the Sion, 
heathens is the special work of God, yet we must 
member that he expects the concurrence of faithfuland 
able ministers of the Gospel’ Géd does. not oleae 
alone: and as no miracles are expécted, ‘the ‘poor i 
rant héathen will be'lost, unless seasonably instructed 
with line upon line, precept upon precept, here ; ali 
and there a little, by faithful and discreet’ missionar 
How vast, then, your obligations to help the Lord with 
all your might? The object you have embraced is un- 
speakably great: you feel the pressure of it When you 
lie down and when you rise up: but the motives to en- 
courage and support your trembling hearts ar 
ably great. God has already begun. his: adie 
in the East. The morning star has, red, and ins 
dicates the near approach of the-rising sun.” | Codd till, 
his praying children delieve, succeed and prosper 
mission. You will go under the guidance of 
the Almighty Savior, and will be supported ‘by his 
right hand, -God will not forsake you, unless en 
sake him. ratte 
But here pause a moment, and count the oll BE y 
enterprise. . Are you to expect unremitting p prospelity 
Are you to expect no hardships, no perils, no rind 
agements, no disappointments, and no adversity? ‘Alas! 


> 


you know better. | - You are to expect much adver 
much opposition, man dark days, when’ your heai 
will i ei grief. Yor ‘have doubtless made ce 
calculations to meet with 1 many adverse seasons of very 
different descriptions. The days of sorrow ‘You must 

‘jence. ‘These are ‘the lot of useful: men. * The 
ca connexions yeu have. formed as a band of 
missionary brothers; and the connubiat comexions you 
have uprightly made, must soon be dissolved. You 
expect to meet the bitter cup of sorrow, as well/as the 
cheerful cup of joy and consolation: for God has so 
decreed. But will you faint in the day of adversity? 
Will you, after solemnly putting your hand to the 
plough, look back? Will you also go away? No: no 
my brothers: You will rather say with the faithful dis- 
ciples, Lord, to whom shall we go, but unto thee? Thou 
hast the words of eternal life. We also say, no: look 
not back but forward with vigorous faith. Trust in 
the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is ever- 
lasting strength. In the hours of affliction remember 
Christ and his afflicted Apostles, while executing your 
arduous mission. Remember the martyrs enrolled on 
the Divine page. Remember particularly those bless- 
‘ed men arrayed in white robes, and let the recording 
angel attach your names to the register. For these are 
they which came out of great tribulation, and have wash- 
ed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb—and God shall wipe away all tears from ion 
eyes. i" 

In a word; let the Lord be your portion, and Christ 
your leader and confidence; let grace be your speech, 
and humility your dress; let secret and social prayer 
be your breath; the glory of God in the salvation of 
souls your object, and heaven your’ final’ rest. Go, 


bois of ran may be: 


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ah AY eri or bgrie mf teats 
RIGHT HAND 


FELLOWSHIP. 


BY SAMUEL WORCESTER, D.D. 
Pastor of the Tabernacle Church in Salem. 


GOD 1s tove. The Divine Persons of the adorable 
Trinity inhabit eternity in affection and fellow- 
ship infinitely high and blessed. Holy angels, in their 
different orders, all dwell in love, and dwell in God. 


_ Man was originally formed for the same exalted hap- 


piness; but he fell by transgression into enmity and 
misery. The fall was complete; the enmity was fixed; 
the misery must have been hopeless:—but Divine mer. 
cy interposed. The Son, who was “‘in the bosom of 
the Fatuer,” assumed the office of Mediator, and died 
on the cross to make reconciliation; that as many of 
eur revolted race as should believe in him might re- 
ceive forgiveness, and be restored to the fellowship of 
: aven. Rising from the dead, he ascended up on 
, leading captivity captive, and received gifts for 
men, even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might 
dwell among them: “and he gave some, apostles; and 
some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pas- 
tors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the 


- work of the ministry, for the building of the body of © 


Christ: till” the redeemed, of every tongue, and kindred, 
and nation, “all come in the unity of the faith, and of the 
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, un- 
to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ!” 


40 


Here “there is neither Greek nor Jew, Barbarian, Scy- 
thian, bond nor free;’’ but ‘‘there is one body and one 
Spirit; one Lord, one faith, one baptist: OReeamaale 
Father of all.” 43 7 hie quanta 
Such is the purport of the Game and 
glorious dispensation came to be rightly understood 
and felt, James, Cephias, and John, _the distinguished 
apostles of the circumcision, perceiving the grace con- 
ferred on Paul and Bartiabas,, affectionately and sol- 
emnly gave to them THE RIGHT HANDS OB FELLOW- 
SHIP, THAT THEY SHOULD GOUNTO THE HEATHEN. 
This memorable example is sein applicable to the 
present occasion. co cyte spalaensle 
By the solemnities of this ps you, Messrs: Jupson, 
Nortz, Neweut, Haru, and Rice, are publi 
apart for the service of God in the Gospel of his, ‘Son, 
among the Heatuen. Withyreference, therefore, to 
this momentous service, we, who ate still to labor 
in the same Gospel here at home,,in the. ) 
God, angels, and men, now give to, you, dear Bretl 
THE RIGHT HANDS OF FELLOWSHIP, It is. not an 
empty ceremony; it is the act of our hearts, and its 
import is high and sacred. |, It expresses our acknowl- 
edgement of you as duly authorised ministers of C. 
our approbation of the service to which you are ‘sepa- 
rated; the obligation upon us to, render you.every assist- 
ance in our power; and our readiness, to, welcome, as 
fellow citizens with the saints, those. who by your min- 
istry may be turned from, their vanities to embrace the 
common salvation, “oremad: es Bind 
We trust, dear Brethren, that you, are sincerely and. 
devotedly the servants of the most High God, whom 
we also serve; and we thank Jesus, Christ our Lord 
that unto you is this grace given, that you, should 
preach among the Gentiles his unsearchable riches. .. 


Al 


_ We hesitate not, in this public and solemn manner, 
to testify our full approbation of the particular service 
to which you are appointed. We are not of the number 
of those, who hold the religion of Brahma to be as 
good for the people of India, as the religion of Jesus; 
nor can we believe the polluted and bloody rites of a 
pagan pagoda to be as acceptable to the Horny One of 
Israel, as the pure and spiritual worship of a christian 
temple. No, dear Brethren, we have not so learned 
Christ. We know-upon the word of God, that ‘‘the 
things which the gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to de- 
mons and not to God;”’ that righteousness. has no fel- 
lowship with unrighteousness, light no communion 
with darkness, Christ no fellowship with Belial: that 
‘all the world lieth in wickedness,” and under just con- 
demnation; and that “there is none other ‘name under 
heaven, given among men,” by which to be saved, 
than the name of Jesus. We believe, in a word, that 
the blood of the Son of God was not unnecessarily 
shed; that the ministry of reconciliation through him 
_ Was not unnecessarily instituted. We are, therefore, 
not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, nor do, we esteem 
it of little importance to mankind; but we glory in it, as 
the power of God unto salvation to every one that be- 
Tieveth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”? We 
so hold the unrevoked edict of the risen Savior to be 
not only a sufficient warrant, but a solemn, authoritative 
direction to Go INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH 
THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. We,.therefore, 
hail the day——the auspicious day, which we jhave long 
desired to see:—-tTu1s pay, dear Brethren, on which we 
solemnly present you to God, as a ‘“‘kind of first fruits” 
of his American churches.. We bow the knee, with de- 
vout thanksgivings to the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the Father of glory, that he has inclined your 
6 


42 


hearts and is favoring you with aty opporturiit 
“them who are far off,” with the words by wh 
and their children may be saved. 

- Go then, beloved Brethren, as’ ‘thi 
these “churches, and the glory of 
to the poor Heathen, the coop NEWs 
pa ont life. Tell them a G 


fsdetiniey for which we hoped 
WHOSE STAR WAS SEEN IN THEE 

them to that BLOOD, with hich he wl sence 
MANY WA FROM hire Hh eee «aie attri 

We participate with you in this great’ und 

our hearts are joined with yours, aids Bipods righthand 
which we give you we shall hold ourselvés inva 
pledged, as God shall enable us, for your help. We 
are not insensible to the sacrifices: vihidh cpctomndliel 
to the dangers and sufferings towhich youare devoted: — 
You stand this day ‘a spectacle to poet on 


to méti i You are in _— act ape aving 


sake.”” “oy land of pene nen of 
is before you; and you are to erect the'stz lard of th 
cross where Satan has long held’ ib ebb vd ted 
empire. Your eyes will be aa h sight 
volting impurity and horror; your hearts will be wrung — 
With avec for immortal: souls ons iguana 
bondage: “and while you strive’ for their rescue, you 
will have to contend, not with flesh” a 
principalities and powers, with the rulers ofthe 

ness of this world, with’ ‘spiritual’ wicked ae 
places. "But you go; we trust, in’ paren arcone 
Lord; arid the weapons of your warfare’ “aresioticar- 


nal, but’mighty through God to the pulling déwm of — 
strong holds, casting down ee 


43: 


high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of 
God.” This is our confidence, this is our cofsolatiof 
respecting you. his 189 1 a 
But, dear Brethren, we shall have you in the tender- 
est remembrance, and shall not ceasé to make méiition 
of you iti our prayers. We shall riot cease fo ‘beseech 
the Allsufficient God to be your shield, and’ your €x- 
ceeding great reward; evermore to cheer you with his 
pfesence, and gird you with his strength? to stablislt 
your hearts with ‘grace, and give you a mouth and wis. 
dom which fione shall be able to gaitisay or resist; and 
to open to you a great door and effectual, and Gatisé 
you to hear extensively around you thé shouts of sal- 
vation. . 'O? 
- Our hearts desire and prayer to God for the people 
to whom you are going is, that they may gladly receive 
the Gospel, and be saved. We shall wait with ardent 
hope to be assured, that you have not run in vain, nei- 
ther labored in vain.. It will give us unspeakable} joy 
- to know, that on the banks of the Indus, the Ganges, or 
the Ava, by means of the pious liberalities and efforts 
of this western world, the Gospel is preached with suc- 
cess, churches are planted, and the praises of the Re- 
- deemer are sung. Trusting in God, we anticipate the 
' glorious scene. Already do we seem to hear from the 
_ farthest East, the grateful, swelling song, ‘(How beav- . 
- tiful upon the mountains are the feet of them who 
_ bring good tidings, who publish peace, who bring 
_ good tidings of good, who publish salvation.” Bles- 
sed day, when, from the throne of Heaven, Zion shall 
hear the word, ‘Arise, shine; for thy light is come, 
and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: anp 
| THE GENTILES SHALL COME TO HER LIGHT, AND 
KINGS TO THE BRIGHTNESS OF HER RISING. The 
' day will come; it is rapidly approaching: the word and 


providence of God declare it to 
of the dawn are even now to be s 
ing Prospect, dear Brethren, < 
stimulate your exertionssiy 1 
of many, who- this 
dus enterprise: for the Gospel shall 

oationaben! all people sh it 
. Beloved Brethren, be. od courage; § 
md may the Lord God of the holy a apostle: 
ets go with you. We ane 
the word of his. 
= of : 


SARMON, 


PREACHED AT BOSTON, 


’ 


BEFORE THE 


AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 


\ 


For 


PORSIGN WISSTO DENTS: 


AT THEIR 


FENTH ANNUAL MEETING, SEPT. 16, 1819, 


BY JOSEPH LYMAN, 
PASTOR OF THE CHURCH IN HATFIELD. 


x 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, 
No. 50, Cornarrt. 


rere etree rer iy 


UT, Ciegbioes Printer. 
1819, 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


JusrIcE requires, that the public be informed, that the Board of Commissionexs 
were unhappily disappointed through the inability of the Preacher and of the 
Substitute, they had designated to the service of delivering the annual discourse, 
to be present at their meeting; and that the Preacher, to whom they, conse- 
quently, assigned the service, had no opportunity to prepare a sermon suitably 
adapted to the occasion. 

The custom and wish of the Board, to have the annual sermons printed, must 
be the apology of the Preacher for consenting that this discourse, under such 
circumstances, should be made public. He hopes, however, that through the 
divine blessing, his labor will not be in vain; that it may be of some benefit in 
aiding those measures now in operation for extending the boundaries of the 
Redeemer’s kingdom. 


SERMON. 


| 


ISAIAH Iviii, 12. 


AND THEY THAT SHALL BE OF THEE SHALL BUILD THE OLD WASTE PLACES: 
THOU SHALT RAISE UP THE FOUNDATIONS OF MANY GENERATIONS; AND 
THOU SHALT BE CALLED, Toe REPAIRER OF THE BREACH, THE ReSTOREB 
OF PATHS TO DWELL IN. 


Tis is a cheering prediction of happy and glorious 
eyents to take place under the Christian dispensa- 
tion. When the legal dispensation, instituted by 
Moses, should be abolished, a new system of religious 
worship and ordinances would be introduced in its 
stead and extend its saving benefits to other nations, 
besides the children of Abraham. The Ch of 
God would be wonderfully enlarged and include im its 
limits those Gentile nations, who, for so many centuries, 
_ had been excluded from the family of the enlightened 
and the redeemed. 

For thousands of years, gross spiritual darkness had 
covered the earth with all its countless tribes of men, 
excepting only that small remnant of the sons of 
Jacob, whom God had chosen to himself as an heritage, 
to the exclusion of the great mass of mankind, who 
were left to perish in ignorance, pollution, and idolatry. 


4 


But in prophetic vision, the evangelical Isaiah fore- » 
saw and predicted, that, after the coming of the — 
Messiah the world should see far better days. The 
boundaries of God’s visible kingdom by a gradual 
increase should be extended. One nation and another’ 
should, m succession, arise out of that gloomy dark- 
ness of idolatry, vice and profligacy, which had so 
long shrouded their minds in an ignorance of the 
true God and his holy religion; had left them the 
victims of the most degrading errors and crimes; and 
robbed them of every hope of a blessed immortality 
m a better life. | 

Christianity, as the prophet anticipated, should 
scatter the clouds of error, of idolatry and_polythe- 
ism; should deliver the minds of men from the 
fetters of ignorance, delusion, sensual lust and impiety; 
and bring light and immortality to light by the publi- 
cation, preaching, and sanctifying influence of the 
everlasting Gospel. Nations, long groaning under 
the horrors of paganism, would be emancipated from 
their slavery, and be brought into the light and liberty 
of the children of God. His truth would make them 
free and they would be free indeed, being rescued 
fromthe bondage of corruption. : 

These auspicious events would be produced by 
_ the mstrumentality of those, who had previously - 
enjoyed the light of Divine truth. The friends of 
Christ would be excited and quickened to impart 
those blessings of grace, of which they had been 
tnade partakers, to others, their brethren of the 
human race, who had long lived outcasts from the 
Church, without God and without Christ in the world. 
The privilege, the blessedness, of enlargmg the Re- 


5 


deemer’s kingdom and of recovering sinners to the 
knowledge and enjoyment of God, belongs, principally, — 
to those, who have tasted the benefits of the true 
religion and have been partakers of its sanctifying 
ordinances. These, the Head of the Church employs 
as his favored instruments of gatherig subjects into — 
his kingdom. By their prayers, and labors, and liberal- 
ities, the benefits of saving truth are imparted to 
those, who dwell without the limits of the visible 
Church. As the prophet predicts, “they that be of 
thee,” that is, they who now belong to the kingdom 
of the blessed Redeemer, “shall build the old 
waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of 
many generations, and thou shalt be called, Tue 
_ Reparer of the breach, Tue Restorer of paths to 
dwell in.” 
_ Here we are taught, What is the duty and work of 
those, who live under the light of revealed truth, and 
are partakers of the institutions and ordinances of the 
true religion:—and also what a dignified reputation 
they shall obtain, as the sure reward of their faithful 
performance of this work of the Lord. 
We will then consider and explain, 
_ 1. What is a main and indispensable duty and 
employment of those favored subjects of Divine 
goodness, who live under the light of revealed truth, 
_and are partakers of the doctrines, ordinances, and 
_ worship of the Christian religion. 
They are required to build the old waste places; and 
to raise up the Joundations of many generations. 
‘As our text is a prediction of Gospel times,. of 
what is to take place under the Christian dispensation, 
‘so the duty and employment here allotted is, in an 


| 


6 


appropriate and emphatic sense, the duty and work of | 
Christians, of the professed disciples of the Lord 
Jesus. To understand the duty here enjoimed, we — 


should first know what the prophet mtends by 
waste places. To represent spiritual objects he em- 


ploys a figure taken from the common agricultural | 


pursuits of mankind. 


‘In husbandry, waste places are those portions of © 


ground, which, thr ough native barrenness, cannot be 
enttiganet and made fruitful, such as deserts of sand, or 
marshes covered with water and given over to briers 
and brambles. These, and other lands under similar 


obstructions, reject husbandry; they cannot by cultiya- — 


tion be made prolific. Other parcels are waste and 
unfruitful through neglect of proper labor and cultiva- 


tion. A slovenly and mdolent improvement leaves — 


many parcels of ground waste and barren which, nat- 
urally and by skilful management, are fitted to produce 
profitable and excellent crops. These waste places 


are a figure of that portion of our world which lieth — 


in sin and wickedness, destitute of a knowledge of the 
truth and of the love of God and man, because they 
are not instructed in the will of God, are not taught 
the doctrines and duties of the Gospel: and are hence 
given over to all manner of spiritual folly and delusion; 


g 
and addict themselves to every excess of impiety and 


crime. They neither know nor fear God, are unjust | 
and unnatural to their fellow men, and debase them. ' 


selves with every kind of impurity and pollution. 
In husbandry, waste places stand in contrast with 

well dressed + fields, vineyards and gardens, safely 

fenced and highly cultivated; so im the spiritual sense 


_ of our text, waste places stand in contrast with those — 


7 


Churches and Christian communities, where the word 
and ordinances of the Gospel are fully enjoyed, faith- 
fully administered, and wisely and diligently improved 
by the people, who are blessed with those heavenly 
privileges. 

But, alas! even ina country nominally Christian, 
many, so far from appearing like a well watered and 
eultivated garden, and a vineyard skilfully pruned 
and dressed, appear like the field of the slothful and 
the vineyard of the man void of understanding; their 
hedges are destroyed and their stone walls are broken 
down; thorns and thistles grow instead of pleasant 

_ plants; all runs to waste from the inroads of devour- 
"ing beasts and hungry swine. 

_ How many, through want of sound and faithful 
preaching, or through want of an obedient attention 
to the word and ordinances of God, possess nothing 
more than the name of Christian; they exhibit none 
of the precious fruits of holy obedience. Through 
| want of discipline, of brotherly love, faithful reproof, 
and counsel, those doctrines of Christ, which are of 
/ main importance, are denied; the duties of religion 
‘are violated, and the vices and follies of the world 
‘are countenanced and fostered by those who falsely 
Jeall themselves after the name of Jesus. In the 
}nomina! Christian Church are to be found many unwor- 
|thy professors, yea even some whole communities, 
‘}who have backslidden from the faith and sunk into an 
almost total apostasy. These are the waste places of 
‘Jour Zion, which call for the commiseration of all who 
seek her peace and love her Lord. Such degenerate 


| hurches lie waste, and demand the hand of some 


& 


faithful master-builder to resettle their foundations, © 


and repair their awful and lamentable’ breaches and 
desolations. SOeaRY ty 
But iv addition to these waste places of Zion, there 
are still more extensive wastes and desolations without 
her walls. The greater part of the world lies in a 
deplorably “waste condition; without God, without 
Christ, without a blessed Gospel, without moral virtue, 


social happiness or intellectual dignity; sunk in vice, 


in filthy lust; harassed with violences and frauds, the, 
abject victims of the basest crimes and deplorable 
misery; enjoying nothing here, and without hope for 
the future. These are what the prophet intends by 
waste places. 

They are places which, if they have the Goal yet 
they have it not in its purity and simplicity; they 
have it corrupted, mutilated, and porn m its most 
essential doctrines and precepts. They are ‘not taught 
Christian morality. Their system of morals accords 
with pagan virtue, and not with the holy’ obedience of 
the Gospel of the Son of God. - 

Other places are waste, because while’ wish — 
their Master’s will, they will not do it. 

But the great and extensive wastes and Miialdtiond 
of the earth are those regions where Paganism, 
Mahommedanism, Popery and Heresy, obtain and. 
triumph. ‘These regions contain more than pine ipentls 
parts of this habitable globe. ~ “ 

Having learned what are the wastes to be builded, 
and the foundations which are to be raised — up, let 
us now inquire, How this work is to be accomplished? 
and who are to take an active and unwearied part in 
the doing of it. Our text says, “Those that be 4 


9 


thee” i. e. the disciples and children of Christ, are to 
be the main instruments of building the wastes of 
Zion, and raising up the foundations which for so many 
long ages, have been laid in ruins. Those who are 
taught, and realize the blessed advantages of Gospel 
grace, are the proper persons to feel the worth of 
souls, perishing in idolatry, impenitence and unbelief. 
Those, only, who have tasted the grace of God, can 
estimate its value, and, with a benevolence disinterested, 
enter upon vigorous and effectual means to impart to 
others the blessings of salvation. This work, then, 
belongs to Christians, to those who believe in the 
doctrines of a Divine Savior. This service do they 
owe to their Lord in return for his dying love, and his 
sanctifying grace upon their own guilty souls. 

That affection to man, which the Gospel inculcates 
and inspires, can alone give activity and energy to 
their prayers and labors, for the redemption of their 
brethren perishing in sin and rebellion against God. 
This work, then, belongs, peculiarly, to the ministering 
servants and professed followers of the Lamb of God, 
who taketh away the sins of the world. 

And how shall they effect their godlike design, of 
repairing the wastes of Zion, and raising up the foun- 
dations, which for so many ages have lain in ruins? 
They must, first, set an example of that faith and 
obedience which their Master requires, and, by a 
living copy of Christian virtues, recommend their 
religion to those who live ina contempt and rejection 
of the Gospel of God their Savior. 

_ To their example, they must add their daily and 
fervent supplications, that the Great Master Builder 
will, by bi power and grace, effectually interpose and, 


a 


10 


give.a wise direction, and complete success, to the 
- Means employed for extending the blessings of redemp- 
tion to a world perishing in sin. Nor ‘must they be 
content with prayer alone; they must have a firm faith 
and trust in Christ, that he will hear their prayer and 
confer the blessings for which they seek him. — . 
It their prayer be sincere, and their faith unfeigned, 
they will be uniformly attended by diligent, persever- 
ing labors for the accomplishment of their desired 
object, the progress of truth, and the enlargement of 
the Redeemer’s kingdom. Good men, who love the 
souls of their brethren, and love the Redeemer of 
simers, will grudge no labors, no expenses, for the 
success of the Gospel and the conversion of sinners. 
They will account every expense light and trifling, if 
they cansccure the great end, to repair the desolations - 
of their beloved Zion; if they can bring rebel sinners 
to Jesus, if they can call home the nations to the obe- 
dience of the faith, and to the enjoyment of sanctifi- 
cation and eternal life. acon a 
This leads me to show briefly, ili : 
II. That they, who perform faithfully this’ good : 
work of the Lord, shall be honored with a most dig- 
nified retribution, both in this life and in that which is 
to come. J) DME ithe 
Among blinded savage nations, they who éxercise 
lordship over them, are called benefactors—they who — 
murder and slaughter their fellow men, are called” | 
glorious conquerors; their brows are entwined with 
the wreaths of victory and triumph. But, alas! they 
are commonly the meanest and basest of men, who ° 
ought to be detested on earth, and will receive an” 
awful retributien in eternity. But they who, like the — 


11 


blessed Jesus, save men’s lives and their souls, are the 
only benefactors of men, ‘They shall be blessed in 
their deed; shall have peace with God and man, rest 
in their own souls, and consolation in the day of Christ. 
Blessed followers of the Lamb! You may not be 
called the Conquerors, the Wastcrs, and the Desolators, 
of the earth: but you shall be crowned and triumph 
with the Captaim of your salvation. You shall be 
called, Tae Repamer of the breach, Tae Restorer 
of paths to dwell tm 


IMPROVEMENT. 


1, I would observe, that there is now opened to 
Christians an extensive field of employment and use- 
fulness, in domg good to Zion, and in extending the_ 
boundaries of the Church of God. 

The adorable Immanuel, who hath appeared in our 
world, to save our fallenrace by the labors and sorrows 
of his afflicted life, the ignominy of his accursed death, 
and the triumphs of his glorious resurrection, has laid 
the foundation of human recovery, and the restoration 
of our lost world to the image and favor of God. He 
has scattered much of the darkness which covered 
the earth previously to his advent in the flesh. He 
has broken down the partition wall which separated 
Jews and Gentiles; and has brought into his holy family 
‘and kingdom multitudes, who were shut out under the 
legal dispensation. Weighing the obstructions which 
lie in the way of bringing the Gentiles into his kingdom, 
and uniting them with the sanctified remnant of the 
seed of Jacob, and it is wonderful, that the Gospel has 
made such progress in the world. 


| 


12 


Since our Lord’s ascension, millions and millions of- 
the sinners of the Gentiles have, by the preaching of 
the Gospel, set home by the agency of the Divine 
Spirit, been brought to bow to the Cross; to receive 
and obey Him, who was crucified without the gates of 
Jerusalem. Still, however, a large proportion of the 
world of mankind have continued phos the light of 
the Gospel: or if this light has arisen uy 
they have refused to come to the light. 
deeds should be reproved and | made. manife 
they are not wrought in God. 

Of those numerous churches cudenl in ie early 
ages of Christianity how many, alas! have backslidden 
and apostatized from the faith which they had receiy- 
ed? After a melarcholy declension into every spe- 
cies of gross heresy, profound spiritual ignorance, and 
sordid vice, the eastern churches fell under the 
power of Mohammedan imposture and apostasy. So 
that half the nominal churches of Christ became yic- 
tims of the conquering sword and debasing : peductions 
of that mystery of iniquity. 

At the same time, the western churches were se- 
duced and degraded by the equally corrupt errors and 
profligate vices of the Church of Rome. Thus the 
whole Christian world, with a few exceptions of the 
faithful followers of Christ, became the victims of 
damnable heresies; and were enticed from their stead- 
fastness, by the deceiyableness of unrighteousness and: 
the artifices of that wicked one-—From these snares 
and errors of popish domination and idolatry, a large 
portion of Europe were recovered by the power and) 
grace of God, in exciting and succeeding the zeal and 


labors of the Reformers 3 in the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries. 


_ alarming, we have a world lying in all the ignorance, 
and darkness, and profligacy, of open idolatry and poly- 
theism. For the greater portion of the world, the 
_ countries most populous, pleasant and prolific, are given 


13 


Under a new form, and by new wiles and stratagems, 
have the Devil and his agents and emissaries among 
men, tarnished the glory, and, in a measure, destroyed 
the purity and peace of the Reformed churches. 
There has been a grievous departure from the faith 
of the Reformers, by a denial of the doctrines of 
grace, and the introduction of gross infidelity under the 
specious garb of philosophy and rational Christianity. 
Thus, my hearers, have the hedges against error been 
taken away, the fences have been broken down and 
the wild boar out of the wood has wasted the Lord’s 
vineyard, and the foxes have spoiled the vines. 

This wide waste of Zion we must labor to repair, 
and strive to restore the desolations of the Church, 
and raise up the foundations which have been broken 
down. 

Besides these mischiefs of heresy and apostasy in 

the nominal church of God, which are so pressing and 


_ over to the most impure and debasing idolatries, wor- 
shipping stocks and stones and devils. This is the wide 
: field opened to our Christian sympathy, labor, prayer, 
and faith. But alas! the misery of spiritual darkness 
and ignorance comes nearer home to our very doors. 


The nation of which we are a part, through many 


extensive sections of our country, is in a sad state of 


religious ignorance, of degrading impiety and vice. 
They have no Christian ordinances, no Gospel instruc- 
tions, no Sabbath, no sanctuary.” They live and die and 
perish by thousands, year after year, in unbelief, in 


14 


error, in profligate crimes. They live without God 
and the Redeemer, and die in their sins. Half our 
nation is in this sad predicament. Their distresses, 
with all the energy of grief and despondency, call 
upon us, who have more light and privileges to come 
to their help, and to lend our Christian aid m rescuing 
them from the pollutions of vice, and from the present 
and future punishment of their spiritual ignorance and 
unbelief. 

While the sufferings of distant nations so loudly call 
upon our Christian sympathy to afford them relief, ought 
we not to be moved by a consideration of the suffer- 
ings of our own countrymen, to afford them relief, 
that they do not perish for lack of vision, ‘They too 
should be in our hearts, in our prayers, and in our 
exertions, to impart unto them the means of grace and 
the bread of eternal life. 

2. Let us reflect on the means which we are to 
employ in accomplishing the good work of the Lord, 
in promoting the sanctification and salvation of our . 
fellow men. 

Our duty is plain beet) obvious, how to cannsibiiea acs 
pel light and ordinances, those of our own countrymen, 
and those of countries more remote, who are now 
groping in darkness and perishing in impenitence and 
unbelief. Our incumbent duty is to send them the 
holy Scriptures, of which the greater part are wholly 
destitute. Many thousands of our countrymen, and | 
many millions of other nations, have never seen, have 
rarely heard of those sacred oracles which reveal to | 
men the way of life. ‘This evil may be, progressively, 
remedied by the liberalities and labors of Christians 
for a few years. To this important object we are 


15 


required to give a particular and constant attention, as 
we would evince our love to men and our fidelity to 
Christ. Without the Bible, the people must perish in 
their sins. 

But to send the Bible, to those who have it not, is 
only a small part of our duty. To this charity we 
must add another, of equal importance. We must 
provide, and send among them teachers and ministers, 
who can instruct them in the doctrines and duties com- 
prised in the sacred Scriptures. For, in general, men 
will never hear the word, without a preacher to inter- 
pret and enforce it upon their attention and hearts. 
To procure and support these ministers of the word, 
will require a larger portion of our property, and more 
diligent care and watchfulness, even than sending to 

_them the inspired oracles. In order to their conver- 
sion, sinners must have the Bible, and they must also 
_have teachers to call their attention to it, and to hel 
them to a right understanding of it. Bibles and mis- 
sionaries must go in company, if we would hope to 
ring home souls to Christ and to enlarge the borders 
of his redeemed church. ; 
These missionaries must be qualified by learning and 
‘by grace for a faithful and successful discharge of their 
| work. My hearers, ycu know that the harvest is 
immense and the laborers are few. It is a great and 
arduous work to furnish laborers sufficient for the 
lharvest. Duty, therefore, requires that we take 
measures for a supply of good men, to perform the 
missionary work, and to carry the Gospel into all the 
lark regions of our country and our world. We must 
therefore furnish means adequate for the education 
jnd preparation of pious young men for the Christian 


16 


ministry. We must diligently look out from among 
our youth, promising characters for this good work.— | 
Where piety and grace have laid a foundation, we 

must build upon it, by furnishing means for their 

instruction and preparation for the holy ministry. 

Many pious youth, who would willingly devote 
themselves to this service of preaching Christ, have 
not the means of educating and preparing themselves. 
Those who honor Christ, and. love Zion and their coun- 
try, must lend their substance to the Lord. This is a 
duty so plain, that I need only mention it to convince 
you how important and indispensable it is. ‘We can 
never be better employed, than we are in furnishing 
means, to obtain and prepare sufficient laborers for 
that large vineyard of our Lord, which now lies waste 
and desolate, for want of cultivation. It is true this 
must be a work of time, but our zeal and activity and 
charity will much shorten the time, when Christ’s 
harvest shall be copiously gathered in. 

Another thought I must suggest: that is, that parents 
who have promising children and have property, 
should give them a learned education, to prepare them 
for the Christian ministry. Let pious parents devote 
their children to God in this way; and by prayer and. 
faith wait upon Him, that, through his blessing, their 
sons may be fitted by grace as well as by learning, to 
earry the news of salvation to a world perishing in sin, 
What duty is more urgent upon Christian parents 
than to give their children to the Lord, and to prepare 
them by a suitable education for the service of the 
sanctuary. + saligae at 4 

Let me add, that another essential part of our duty 
in this matter is, fo trust in God, to succeed our labor) 


A7 


and gifts, to be constant in our prayers and wrestlings, 
that God would prosper our endeavors, and for this 
end grant the rich effusions of his grace and spirit, and 
make his Gospel effectual for its benign and saving 
purposes. 

3. We will consider, the encouragement we have 
to enter with zeal and perseverance upon this beney- 
olent and salutary work of our Redeemer. 

We live in an age of wonders. Strange and mar- 
yellous events have been multiplied before our eyes m 
the course of God’s holy and mysterious providence. 
On one hand, the adversary of our race has been let 
loose in a peculiar manner, to produce among men the 
miseries of error, vice and impiety, to turn with 
malice and rage the hand of man against his brother 


man. What jealousies, contests and wars, have, in 


these last days, been raised in this tumultuous world? 


What countless millions of lives have been sacrificed 
by the destroying angel? How many millions of prop- 


erty have been worse than lost, to waste men’s lives? 
On the other hand, He, who came to destroy the 


| works of the devil, is manifestly at work to counteract 


this guilt and misery of human folly and wickedness. 
He hath awaked the attention and concern of his 
children, to contemplate and to abate the miseries of 
our afflicted world, to repair the desolations of many 
generations, and to build up the walls of our J erusalem, 
which have been broken down. While the children 
of this world have exerted all their powers, and 
expended their substance in destroying men’s lives, 
the friends of Jesus have bent their minds, and freely 
contributed of their property to save men’s lives;— 
to save men’s lives not only for time, but for eternity. 


3 


18 


Look, ye friends of man, look, ye friends of the Re- 


deemer, and see how much anxious solicitude hath been 
manifested, and how much property hath been wil- 
lingly consecrated in establishing Bible Societies, 
Missionary Societies, Theological Seminaries, and 
Societies for the education and preparation of young 
men for the ministry of peace and reconciliation. 

Is not Christ evidently building up Zion in these 
troublous times? How much hath Christ already done? 
and what preparations is he now making to do vastly 
more for repatring the old waste places, and raising up 
the foundations of many generations. - Look on these 
events of providence now passing; reflect on the ob- 
ligations you are under to your perishing fellow sinners; 
only look on him, who gave his life for your ransom;— 
and then determine in the fear and presence of God, 
determine what you have to do as his instruments to 
advance the glory of Zion, and to promote the salva- 
tion of those millions of immortals, whe now lie perish- 
ing in sin, in delusion, in impiety and unbelief. 

Iwill not weaken an argument, so plain and conclu- 
sive, by extending it. You see, you feel, you cannot 
doubt your duty, in these respects; you cannot ques- 
tion, whether this be the Lord’s work, the cause of 
God—of Zion—of your country; whether it be your 
duty and your animating encouragement to put a vig- 
orous, unwearied, and persevermg hand to this good 
work of building up and enlarging the walls of our 
Jerusalem. 

For, my hearers, 

4. From your faithful, pious, and persevering labors 
in this cause of our blessed Redeemer, you may 
expeet a happy success, anda rich and ample reward, 
both in this life and in that which is to come. 


} 


19 


You will have the joyous consolation thai, under 
Ba you have been the blessed instruments of arrest- 
ing the desolating sword of God’s enemies; of abating 
the sufferings and miseries of this®afilicted world. 
You shall be the instruments of instilling sound and 
correct sentiments into the hearts of your fellow men: 
of curing in them those lusts, whence come wars and 
. fightings. You shall forward, by your labors, your 
property and your prayers, the progress of righteous- 
ness in the earth, and the approaching reign of the 
Prince of peace. You shall see the house of David 
daily increasing, and the house of Saul daily decreas- 
ing. You shall see your sons made prophets, and your 
young men Nazarites unto the Lord. You shall see 
them go forth n their Redeemer’s strength to proclaim 
the tidings of salvation to those who sit in darkness. 
You shall see nations come to Zion, and kings to the 
brightness of her rising. You shall hear the joyful 
Behout of salvation echo through distant regions of your 
country and the world. You shall have peace within 
and peace with God. You may not be called con- 
querors on earth, but you shall be called the friends of 
-man, the humble followers of Him, who went about 
doing good. You shall be called, Tne Repamers oF 
THE BREACH, THE Restorers oF PATHS TO DWELE PY. 
Amen. 


; ‘ » aay and sie 
* Owe 
Ji vbneeeeial 
rei 5 cis 
i ey a es ' 
; ae 


OUR TRUE ENCOURAGEMENT. 


5S E fk eee. 


PREACHED AT BUFFALO, NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 8, 1847, 


BEFORE THE 


AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 


FOREIGN MISSIONS, 


AT THEIR 


THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING. 


BY REY. DAVID MAGIE, D.D., 


ELIZABETHTOWN, N. J. 


BOSTON: 
PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN, 24 CONGRESS STREET. 
1847. 


AVA EELAGLBM oh Soh Ol 


YOR aACE 
aS Belay oo ANWR . 


SERMON. 


Isaran, xxxu. 15. 


Unvit THE SPIRIT BE POURED UPON US FROM ON HIGH. 


As regards the final and universal triumphs of the 
gospel, no believer in the Bible can entertain a 
doubt. Glorious things are spoken of Zion, the city 
of our God, and we are assured, explicitly, that the 
kingdoms of this world shall one day become the 
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ. That 
light which now shines on our path, is yet to lighten 
all the Gentiles, and be the glory of the people of 
Israel. 

Thus it is written, and thus it will be. But what 
is to secure the ultimate coming of this happy pe- 
riod? Our hope all hangs on one single thing—the 
promise of the Spirit—and occupying the position 
we do inthe annals of time, we can look neither 
backward nor forward, without being convinced 
how dependent we are on such aid. What has been 
done, teaches us this; and what is still to be done 
teaches it with even greater emphasis. Every past 
conquest has been the effect of union and commu- 
nion with the divine Comforter ; and our ability to 


4 


carry on the enterprise in a way at all commensur- 
ate with the grandeur of the object before us, must 
be derived from the same source. Even more than 
former assistance will be needed. Instead of occa- 
sional drops of mercy, water must be poured upon 
the thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. 

The text refers to this; and it is too well under- 
stood to require any particular explanation. Suffice 
it simply to say, that the chapter begins with a 
cheering account of the approach of a brighter day ; 
but it goes on to tell us that, in the meantime, a 
season of gloom and depression would ensue, to be 
terminated only by the pouring out of the Spirit 
from on high. This would work a delightful change. 
Then the wilderness would become a fruitful field, 
and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. 

No language could be more appropriate to us, in 
the relation which we, as a Missionary Society, 
sustain to the conversion of the world. Large as 
are our resources, numerous as are the laborers we 
have sent forth, and strong as is the hold which this 
blessed cause has taken on the affections of the 
people, we were never more dependent on help from 
heaven, than at this very moment. Without special 
divine aid we can do nothing. God must plentifully 
imbue our hearts with the influences of the Spirit, 
that we may use the right means for effecting our 
object, that we may prosecute the work with proper 
energy, and that we may see our efforts attended 
with success. These are the points which I wish to 
illustrate and enforce. 


5 


I. The Spirit of God must be with us, or we 
shall not use the right means for converting the 
world. 

Our undertaking is a vast one, and we are not 
deft in uncertainty as to the way in which it is to be 
accomplished. That gospel, which God has given 
_ Us to spread, as well as to enjoy, was made for man; 


and though there is in it no independent efficacy, it 


does possess an adaptedness to the renovation of his 
moral nature. No matter where you meet him, or 
whatever be the depth of his depravity, this is the 
remedy for his ruin. There is here an ordained 
channel through which the Spirit of God operates to 
change the heart, make the poor pagan a new crea- 
ture, turn the desert into a goodly land, and fill a 
world of crime and sorrow with righteousness and 
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Sending the 
knowledge of Christ abroad through the nations, is 
the appointed method of saving men. We know of 
no other means—having thus the seal of heaven 
upon them—for subverting the kingdom of Satan, 
rooting idolatry out of the earth, and restoring our 
race to fellowship with their Maker. 

The commission under which we act runs thus— 
to turn men from darkness to light, and from the 
power of Satan unto God, that they may receive 
forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that 
are sanctified. To bring about this result, we are 
confined to a single instrumentality—the pure, un- 
adulterated gospel—that gospel which we ourselves 
have received, and wherein we stand. This we are 


6 


pledged, as far as in us lies, to send abroad to all 
them that dwell on the face of the earth, assured 
that nothing is wanting to cause the truth to triumph 
everywhere, but the accompanying power of the 
Holy Spirit. Our great business is to teach men 
that they have ruined themselves by ‘sin, to lead 
them to disclaim all righteousness of their own, and 
to bring them to a cordial trust in the blood of the 
cross. We must give the heathen that very gospel 
which was preached on the day of Pentecost, which 
the Reformation carried into the heart of Germany, 
which was found in the caves and mountains of 
Scotland when she was faithful to her covenant, 
which our Puritan Fathers brought with them from 
the old world, and which glowed with divine life in 
the bosom of an Edwards, a Brainerd, and a Davies. 
This is the panoply in which we are to wage war 
with the powers of darkness. We have no other 
armor. 

This gospel we are to send, in simplicity and 
godly sincerity, to them that sit in darkness and in 
the shadow of death. It must be our determination, 
at every stage of progress, not to know anything 
save Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and so long 
as we pursue the work in this way, we may be 
cheered with the conviction that an instrumentality 
on which God has a thousand times made his im- 
press, will not be employed in vain. This can save 
a soul from death, and it can save a world from 
death. If we ever forget that there is a principle 
of vitality in the genuine gospel—the plan of salva- 


7 


tion, the story of the crucifixion—when thus applied, 
we shall find the very sinews of missionary effort all 
‘cut at once. The words that I speak unto you, said 
the Great Teacher, they are spirit, and they are 
life. There shall be a handful of corn in the earth, 
upon the top of the mountains, the fruit whereof 
‘shall shake like Lebanon. 

- It is more faith in God’s instrumentality that we 
need. We look at the gospel, and what is it, if left 
_ to itself, but the declaration of a fact—the narration 
of an event—the revelation of a doctrine? How 
can it change the heart of a heathen, and create 
new sensations, and lead to new solicitudes, and 
awaken new joys there, to tell him that in Christ 
we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins, 
according to the riches of his grace? The cause 
seems unequal to the effect. But when there goes, 
along with the statement of such facts, an unseen 
agency, more powerful than that which makes the 
mountains tremble, all difficulty is removed. The 
gospel is not the breath of man—it is the power of 
God. It is not a feeble weapon, it is the sword of 
the Spirit. It is not a mere tale of wonder, it is a 
message of life. Nothing that the world has ever 
seen descends so deeply into the seat of human 
sympathies, or works such revolutions in the charac- 
ter of man. 

The kind of duty we have to perform is obvious. 
We but go forth, in the persons of our missionaries, 
to declare, in the school, along the way-side, and at 
the temple of idolatry, that which we ourselves have 


8 


seen, which we have looked upon, and our hands 
have handled of the word of life. There is no ne- 
cessity for our being told, that this is God’s method 
for working salvation in the midst of the earth. 
Never can it be matter of surprise to us, that the 
bare reading of the story of the crucifixion, in the 
lonely tent of a man of God in Greenland, should 
be attended with such power as to strike the mind 
of a half-sleeping heathen at the door, and prompt 
him to exclaim, ‘* Those are precious words, let me 
hear them again.”” We must forget our own con- 
version, before these things can appear strange. 

It is no part of our business to make experiments 
for the relief of human wo, or the removal of human 
guilt. We have a Saviour to speak of; whose 
blood we know cleanseth from all sin; we have the 
invitation to give: whosoever will, let him take of 
the water of life freely ; and then, to complete our 
resources, we have the promise, Lo! I am with you 
alway, even unto the end of the world. This is our 
reliance. ‘Thus equipped, we go out to fight God’s 
battle among men. And sad will be the day when 
our compassion for sinners begins to dig for itself a 
channel different from that in which the Saviour’s 
flowed, or our impatience to get the work done leads 
us to the use of means such as he has not authorized. 
All we can do—all we are allowed to do—is to take 
our stand at the foot of the cross, and, point’ the 
heathen to its bleeding victim, Our sole expedient 
for saving men from hell, is the atonement of Cal- 
vary, the expiatory sacrifice of the Son of God ; that 


9 


righteousness which is unto all, and upon all them 
that believe. These constitute the glad tidings of 
great joy which shall be to all people. When our 
sons and our daughters leave us to cross oceans, and 
climb mountains, and journey over valleys, we must 
charge them to repeat everywhere the story of the 
apostasy, and of the death of Christ to remove the 
curse. We must exhort them to say, God so loved 
the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but 
have everlasting life. 

These are the means by which we are to accom- 
plish our object, and we need to be kept to them 
without deviation or faltering. But this can be done 
only by such a measure of divine influence, daily 
exerted upon our hearts, as shall cause the gospel 
to loom up largely and gloriously before us, and 
inspire us with a perfect confidence in its divinely 
appointed efficacy. As a missionary organization, 
the presence with us of the Good Spirit, is indis- 
pensable. No resolutions, however stringent, to 
require an orthodox creed in those who enter the 
foreign field—no well adjusted frame work of eccle- 
siastical supervision—no votes of councils or synods 
to commission only good men and true, will secure 
the giving of real, vital Christianity to the nations. 
These things may be useful and important, but they 
are not sufficient. ‘The moment we ourselves be- 
come indifferent to the doctrines of total depravity, 
justification by faith, and regeneration by the Spirit, 


the trumpet we blow on the other side of the 
2 


10 


globe, will give an uncertain sound. We. shall 
plant no better religion than we possess. 

There is a downward tendency in man—in the 
best of men—and in the best of men engaged in 
the holiest work,—which nothing can_ effectually 
counteract, but a constantly exerted divine influ- 
ence. Charters, subscriptions, pledges, will not do 
it. ‘These, when the heart gets wrong, are weak 
as a thread of tow. God, the Holy Ghost, must 
be with us at every step, or we shall even lose 
those things which we have already wrought, and 
never receive a full reward. 

Let me add: this view of the gospel, as the 
wisdom of God, and the power of God, will 
impart such an aspect of simplicity to our aims, and 
give such a type of homogeneousness to our efforts, 
as will help us to move forward with harmony in 
our great work. We shall not then lay out our 
strength on extraneous matters, or matters which, 
though valuable in themselves, do not properly 
belong to us as a missionary society. Our object, 
be it never forgotten, is not to make any direct 
attack upon forms of civil government, however 
cruel and despotic, or to carry a crusade into the 
arrangements of social life, however. inconsistent 
they may seem with the highest degree of human 
happiness. ‘These may be great evils here, and 
they may lie very much in our way, but the first 
assault is not to be made on these out-works. If 
we feel as Paul felt, or as Martyn felt, or as Christ 
felt, our chief desire will be to secure, for the real 


1] 


gospel, a lodgment in the heart, assured that this is 
the divine method of reforming the life. We need 
not fear. Truth is like chain-shot—give one link 
its direction, and it will draw after it the entire 
charge. Make the heathen Christians, and they 
will not fail to become men. 

_ Such is our work, and such are the appliances 
with which we are furnished for carrying it on. 
The gospel, preached with the Holy Ghost sent 
down from heaven, is all we need to recover men 
from their sins, and make this world of ours vocal 
with the high praises of God. This comprises the 
length and breadth of our duty. Our service is 
performed when, in reliance on divine aid, we have 
testified in the face of all nations repentance 
towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus 
Christ. But, . 

II. Unless the Holy Spirit be with us, we shall 
never prosecute our work with proper energy. 

No missionary enterprise can be expected to 
flourish, which does not take fast hold on the 
hearts, and deeply move the sympathies of its 
friends. This is a cause of too much import to be 
carried on lukewarmly. Some years ago, a number 
of young men, candidates for service in foreign 
lands, in the papal church, pledged themselves to 
God and to each other to be faithful, by each 
opening a vein in his arm and writing his name in 
his own blood. I plead not for this. It may have 
been superstition. But if covenanting in blood can 
bind man to his duty, then we are bound with lig- 
atures which can never be broken. 


12 


It is easy to see that one of the main purposes of 
the Church on earth, is her own self-extension. 
We learn, on every page of the history of the early 
propagation of the gospel, that the apostles did not 
ordain elders in every city, chiefly, much less exclu- 
sively, to keep ground already gained, or to rejoice 
in conquests already made. With them the field 
was the world. ‘Their plan was an out-going, an 
aggressive one. But this is a kind of work which 
we shall never follow up with a full heart, except as 
our desire to spread the gospel, as well as our indi- 
vidual appreciation of it, is quickened by the Spirit 
of God. Neither of these things is natural to us, 
and unless supplied, as was the oil in the prophet’s 
vision, they will grow weak and vanish away. We 
know, by sad experience, that our persuasion of a 
personal welcome to trust in Christ, becomes indis- 
‘tinct, whenever we are left to ourselves; and we 
also know that when thus left, we forget the claims 
of a dying world. | 

The church, every one admits, ought to place the 
sending of the gospel to the heathen among the 
most solemn and clearly ascertained of all her 
duties. It belongs to her to see that her members 
are kept apprised of the aspects and wants of this 
vast undertaking, cheerfully providing the means 
for every newly projected occupation of the enemy’s 
country, and carefully watching over young Chris- 
tians of promise, to mark the developments of their 
character, as to any special fitness for such service. 
These are points in relation to which there can be 


13 


no doubt. Who can hesitate to believe that the 
bringing forward of candidates for this high employ- 
ment, should be an object of the deepest interest to 
every minister of the gospel, every professor of 
theology, and every ecclesiastical judicatory? Pa- 
rents ought to prize such a post fora beloved son or 
daughter, above one in the retinue of an ambassa- 
dor to the mightiest potentate on earth. Daily 
should prayer be made that the Holy Ghost would 
separate our Barnabases and our Sauls to the work 
of Christian Missions. 

But how are we to get up to this state of feeling, 
and this standard of action? We shall but practice 
an imposition upon ourselves if we merely compare 
what is now doing with what was done a few years 
ago, instead of summoning courage to ask what 
the opening providences of God require at our 
hands, or what our own good hope through grace 
should prompt us to undertake. All seems bright 
and animated enough, when mingling in an im- 
mense congregation like this to exchange Christian 
salutations, and to sharpen each the countenance of 
his friend, by the rehearsal of some striking inci- 
dent. We might almost suppose that the tribes of 
the Lord had assembled to decide which should 
have the honor of going up first to possess the land. 
There are ministers enough, and friends of the 
Redeemer enough to move the world. But let us 
beware how we take this as the actual guage of 
missionary zeal among us. We can attend anniver- 
saries, and make speeches, and indulge in the 


14 


luxury of pleasant feeling, better than we can go 
into our closets and pray, ‘ Thy kingdom come,” 
and better than we can write, ‘* Holiness to the 
Lord,” on all our possessions and enjoyments. Alas! 
we have very little of the mind that was in him who 
cried out in relation to this work, “How am I 
straitened till it be accomplished!” . Never shall 
we act with energy until we have more of the 
Spirit of God. 

This is no time for self-felicitation. If we are in 
advance of some by-gone ages, we fall most re- 
proachfully behind the feeling and effort of primi- 
tive times. The records of the struggles of the 
early disciples of the Saviour with the paganism of 
the world, brief as these records are, furnish proof 
of the most conclusive kind, against us. How 
they toiled and suffered, we well know, for the 
statement is, that to their power, yea, and beyond 
their power, they gave of their substance, praying 
the Apostles with much entreaty, to take upon 
them the ministering to the Saints. No wonder 
that the word of the Lord grew mightily and pre- 
vailed. Calamitous as the times were, we find the 
religion of the crucified one triumphing, in a few 
centuries, over ten violent persecutions, and then, 
instead of being shorn of her strength, putting on 
the purple, and sitting down on the throne of the 
Cesars. . 

But now, alas, half our strength has to be 
expended in trying to keep our enterprise up to 
lines already reached. Instead of onward moye- 


es i 


EP 


15 


ments, enlarging year by year, to correspond with 
the calls, which an open world, and fields every- 
where white to the harvest, are addressing to us, 
we seem, so far as men and money, and new 
stations are concerned, to be almost stationary ; 
and this too, at a time when every branch of 
secular business is borne forward on such a tide of 
prosperity, as the land has never known before. 

Why this falling off from the zeal and self-denial 
of the first disciples? Only give us the same 
implicit faith in the realities of the world to come, 
the same abiding conviction of the value of the 
soul, the same unshaken reliance on the blood of 
the cross, and above all, the same accompanying 
influence of the Spirit of God, and we can work 
as well as primitive believers. As for external 
means and resources, we are better off than they 
ever were. Not only have we wealth on our side, 
which they had not, and science, which they had 
not, and the countenance of civil governments, 
which they had not, but we have the Bible trans- 
lated, and the means of translating it, into almost 
every language under heaven. We can do what 
they did—carry the gospel to every city—and then 
we can do what they did not, and could not do— 
leave copies of the word of God in every city. 

So far as resources are concerned, and acquaint- 
ance with the condition of the world, and rapidity 
of communication with lands afar off, we have 
advantages over all the friends of the Redeemer, of 
past ages, inspired and uninspired. But in one 


16 


thing, many of them excelled us. They felt, as I 
fear we do not, their need of power from on high, 
and go where they might, they seem to have carried 
with them a never failing assurance that, when they 
planted and watered, God would give the increase. 
This was their grand distinction over modern times. 
It was not simply that they could speak with 
tongues, having never learned them—it was not 
that it was given them in the same hour what they 
should say—nor was it that they could confirm 
their testimony by signs and wonders following. 
These things did not change the hearts of honorable 
men and women not a few. It was not thus that a 
great company of the priests became obedient to the 
faith. ‘There must be along with all this, and in 
addition to it all, the working of that same power, 
which wrought in Christ, when he was raised from 
the dead, to give the truth any saving effect. This 
they sought, and this they enjoyed. Oh, had we the 
same confidence in divine aid, we should go forward 
with energy, and a voice would soon be heard, say- 
ing to the North, give up; and to the South, keep 
not back. Bring thy sons from far, and thy 
daughters from the ends of the earth. 

For my part I despair of ever seeing the church 
come up to any suitable standard of praying, and 
giving, and doing, until the Spirit is more copiously 
poured upon us from on high. Nothing else can 
reach the secret place of feeling in these cold 
bosoms of ours, or indite those effectual, fervent sup- 
plications which avail much, or open the purse of 


17 


this money-loving generation. We are shut up to 
this single resource. It only remains to say, 

If]. That the Spirit must be given us, or we 
shall never see our efforts crowned with success. 

In no other way can one chase a thousand, or two 
put ten thousand to flight. There is something in 
a simple dependence on divine help, which will not 
fail to impart to our labors a character so earnest 
and decided as to betoken a favorable result ; while, 
at the same time, it will be sure to invest them with 
a becoming air of sobriety and self-distrust. We 
always work best ourselves, when we feel that God 
is working in us both to will and to do. This is 
an infallible cure for despondency. How can diffi- 
culties, be they what they may, depress the man 
who really believes that the heart of the imperious 
Brahmin, the fiery Druze, or the degraded Zulu, is 
in the hand of the Lord, as the clay in the hand of 
the potter? ‘This is encouragement enough. The 
floods may lift up—the floods may lift up their voice 
—yea, the floods may lift up their waves, but thou, 
O Lord, on high, art mightier than the noise of 
many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the 
sea. 

If we only use the right means, in the right way, 
failure is impossible. Long ago was the matter 
settled that the seed of the woman should bruise 
the serpent’s head ; and how can we entertain a 
doubt, as we trace this promise on, and find it 
amplified and rendered more distinct by successive 


prophets of the Most High, until at length God is 


3 


18 


manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen 
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on 
in the world, and received up into glory. It is no 
more an open question whether nations shall come 
bending to him, and kings bow down before him. 
This point is fixed, and all misgiving is sinful. 
Once it was sublimely said, Fear not, you carry 
Cesar and his fortunes; but now it is said, in 
language of far higher and nobler sublimity, Fear 
not, for God is with you, and sooner or later your 
work shall be rewarded. Confidence in an invisible 
arm is, of itself, an element of prosperity. Read 
the history of men who have been strong, and done 
exploits in the world, and you will find that they 
were carried steadily forward by a confidence, 
which scarcely ever forsook them, in supernatural 
aid. It was so with that remorseless tyrant who 
styled himself the Scourge of God—it was so with 
Cortes, as he trampled unoffending nations under 
his bloody feet—it was so with Cromwell, when he 
bound kings with chains and princes with fetters of 
iron—it was so with Washington, as he lifted up 
his head serenely above the clouds and storms of 
the Revolution—it was so, in a better, higher, 
nobler sense, with Luther, and Whitfield, and Paul. 
Nothing so nerves the arm and strengthens the 
heart, as confidence in God. Who art thou, O 
great mountain! Before Zerubbabel thou shalt 
become a plain. 

This is a point which we ought to ponder again 
and again. I grant that the gospel which we are 


19 


laboring to send out over the world, is so little after 
man, as well in the doctrines it inculcates, as in 
the duties it enjoins, that we can have no hope of 
its ultimate and universal triumph, but in the belief 
of an accompanying divine operation. This is true 
everywhere. Even here, among ourselves, where 
a general Christian sentiment exists, where the laws 
and usages of society favor a profession of godli- 
ness, and where the labors of the preacher are 
enforced by living epistles for Christ, known and 
read of all men——we have nothing else to depend 
upon. What, then, shall we do without the Spirit 
of God in a work which carries us out far beyond 
the range of all evangelical influence? Those who 
go forth to convert men in lands where every train 
of thought, and every prejudice of education, and 
every habit of life, are cast in a pagan mould, must 
find themselves weak as babes, except as they are 
girded with strength from on high. 

But here light breaks in upon us. No antece- 
dent preparation is necessary to encourage our 
hopes, when we carry the gospel to the dark 
places of the earth. The footsteps of Revelation 
do not require to be preceded by the march of 
science, nor does the efficacy of the story of the 
Cross need to be prepared for by any previous cul- 
ture of mind or manners. So far as respects such 
auxiliaries, the gospel is competent to go alone. 
We may safely give it as a first lesson. The sim- 
ple recital of God’s plan of saving men, attended 
by that almighty influence which we are fully justi- 


20 


fied in expecting, meets the savage and tames him, 
the barbarian and civilizes him, the Hottentot and 
elevates him, the Dyak and subdues him. An 
omnipotent energy goes along with the oft-repeated 
tale. We may liken it to the silent and noiseless 
influence of the sun, visiting us with his morning 
beams, and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race 
—or to the quiet and serene efficacy of the dew, as 
it descends with the shades of the evening, to 
spread fertility abroad over the earth. These ener- 
gies are so mild in their movements, as not to 
awaken infancy in its cradle, or disturb old age on 
its weary bed. But quiet and potent as are such 
operations of nature, they are only emblems of an 
equally quiet, though infinitely more potent opera- 
tion of grace which, in the manifold wisdom of 
God, is made to attend the simple annunciation of 
the gospel. 

We rest with confidence here. It is the purpose 
of the Father thus to give the Son a seed to serve 
him. On the strength of a prediction so encour- 
aging, we may press forward, assured that God will 
take out of the nations a people for himself, and 
that in no tribe or city, where the gospel is faith- 
fully preached, will there fail to be a remnant, 
according to the election of grace. What if our 
efforts are powerless in themselves? We have only, 
in obedience to the divine command, to fill the 
valley of Edom with ditches, and the water to 
supply them will, in due time, come, either from the 
clouds, or the bowels of the earth. Moses hesi- 


21 


tated about attempting to deliver his brethren. But 
he, at length, went on, and the Nile was turned 
into blood, and hail stones and coals of fire descend- 
ed, and darkness covered the land—and the first 
born died—and Pharaoh let the people go. Noth- 
ing is too hard for the Lord. 

Jesus is to see of the travail of his soul and be 
satisfied, and the Spirit, in the hearts of believers, 
is to secure to him this reward. We anticipate the 
time, when France, with her little remnant of true 
faith revived, shall build again her long since dilapi- 
dated Huguenot temples—when the active pene- 
trating mind of Germany shall work out a second 
Reformation, more glorious than the first—and when 
all Europe shall inquire after the old paths, and re- 
cover the precious doctrine of justification by faith. 
India too, with her idolatrous sons, including the 
kingdoms which have gone after the false Prophet, 
with his crescent, his battle field, and his sensual 
Paradise—and China, at whose walls we were so 
long and so anxiously waiting, with all her uncount- 
ed millions shall welcome the gospel of the blessed 
God. Yes, and even Africa, poor Africa, steeped in 
crime and sorrow at home, and everywhere abroad 
goaded and peeled by the bloody whip of the task- 
master, shall come forward and lift up her head 
among the ransomed nations, and rejoice in the 
liberty wherewith Christ sets his people free. 
These lands are all to join our own, with her noble_ 
rivers, her extensive lakes, her beautiful prairies, 
and her lofty mountains, in placing the crown upon 


22 
the head of Immanuel. Blessed prospect! May 


God hasten it in his time! 

Nay more—reality already begins to mingle with 
prediction, and accomplishment follows upon the 
heels of anticipation. When we reflect upon the 
steady and long continued blessings which have 
descended upon our labors at Ceylon—the wonders 
of mercy wrought in the Sandwich Islands—almost 
renewing the days of old—the solemn movement 
among the Armenians, bringing forth in such lovely 
forms all the fruits of the Spirit—and the convictions 
and conversions now occurring in the midst of the 
Nestorians, it seems to me, if we should altogether 
hold our peace, the very stones would ery out. 
With all that has thus been predicted, and all that 
has thus been achieved spread out together before 
our eyes, can it be deemed premature to say: O 
Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into 
the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bringest 
good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it 
up, be not afraid—say unto the cities of Judah, 
Behold your God. : 

Such, fathers and brethren, are some of the views 
which it seemed to me important to present, on this 
occasion. Called to the discharge of a duty, which 
no one can expect to perform a second time, it has 
been my heart’s desire and prayer to God, to be led 
to suggest such trains of thought, as might benefit 
myself and my fellow laborers in the kingdom and 
patience of Jesus Christ. This object I have sought 
to gain, by fixing our minds on the Holy Spirit of 


23 


promise, as our good hope in seeking to convert the 
world. 

Now, as we sit here, and contemplate all this, 
what is the first feeling that springs up im every 
pious bosom? I speak for you, disciples of the 
Saviour! It is one of gratitude to God—gratitude 
that we ourselves have heard the joyful sound, and 
been brought to bow to the sceptre of King Jesus; 
gratitude that to us is given the privilege of being 
almoners of salvation to a lost world—a privilege 
which Gabriel before the throne might covet—and 
gratitude that we have the pledge of an influence to 
accompany our efforts, which shall eventually cause 
the truth everywhere to triumph. It is for this, 
among other reasons, that we are kept a little while 
out of heaven. Christ will have us suffer with him, 
and labor with him, that we may, at length, be more 
fully glorified together. Our business then is, not 
to sit down content with the fact that we have been 
begotten again unto a lively hope, by the resurrec- 
tion of Jesus Christ from the dead; or to rejoice in 
trophies already won ; or successes already gained 
among the heathen, but to gird up our loins anew 
for a further onset upon the kingdom of darkness. 

For this we have special encouragement in the 
times in which our lot is cast. Never is it to be 
forgotten, that we are not only living under what 
the apostle calls the ministration of the Spirit, but 
we are now approaching that period of it, when 
developments of mercy are to be expected, more 
numerous and striking than have distinguished any 


24, 


pastage. The great promise of the Old Testament 
was fulfilled eighteen hundred years ago. Then it 
was that wisdom built her house, and hewed out 
her pillars, and killed her beasts, and mingled her 
wine, and furnished her table, and ever since she 
has been sending out her maidens, and crying in the 
high places of the cities. But we want one blessing 
more; the promise of the New Testament, the 
pouring out of the Spirit. An atonement has been 
made, commensurate with the exigencies of the 
world, and all that we can need additional is, the 
coming of that blessed Comforter, whose presence 
in the church is more than a compensation for the 
departure of the Saviour. This is the gift in which 
are wrapped up the destinies of the race. 

Nothing else can keep alive the missionary zeal 
of the church. It will not do to rely upon such 
highly wrought descriptions of the sorrows of those 
who hasten after another god, as the talents and 
eloquence of the friends of this good cause may now 
and then give. Emotion may, in this way, be ex- 
cited in our breasts, and tears drawn from our eyes. 
But we cannot calculate upon feeling thus awaken- 
ed; the fountain is not full enough. The impres- 
sion is not abiding enough. Besides, the oft-re- 
peated looking upon the miseries of heathenism, 
apart from all divine influence, like familiarity with 
any other miseries, must tend to harden rather than 
soften the heart. We need to be impelled by a 
higher motive. To hold out in such a work as this, 
we must have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. 


25 


Hence, too, arises all our encouragement. Faith 
in the efficacy of the gospel, when preached with 
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, is the 
mainspring of every effort to save the heathen. 
Man’s utter ruin is a fact, written so clearly upon 
every page of the Bible, and portrayed so vividly in 
the whole history of the race, that it cannot be 
gainsaved. That the blood of Christ cleanseth from 
all sin is also a fact, which no believer in revelation 
can hesitate for a moment to admit. Now, all that 
is necessary is for the remedy to be applied to the 
disease, and that is done, done effectually and 
gloriously, when the Spirit takes of the things of 
Christ, and shows them unto men. This is the 
agency, which can render our dead and dark world 
instinct with the presence, and radiant with the 
beauties of holiness. 

But alas, we have very little of the special pre- 
sence of the blessed Spirit. The discouragements, 
which press upon us, and weaken our strength in 
the work, come not, I am sorry to say, from the 
other side of the globe, but arise from the state of 
the churches in our own land. There is nothing 
disheartening in the intelligence which reaches us 
from abroad, but we are grieved with the lukewarm- 
ness at home. We are not straitened in the pro- 
mise, or providence, or grace of God, but we are 
straitened, most sadly straitened, by the apathy, and 
worldliness, and declension of the church. Oh, fora 
general and powerful revival of religion! We must 


have it. The work cannot advance in any other 
J 


26 


way. Itis impossible for the stream to rise above 
the fountain. 

A permanently flourishing state of personal reli- 
gion furnishes the only soil, in which such a plant 
as this can strike its roots so deeply, as to live and 
grow. Secure for us more vital piety here at home, 
more communion with God, more sympathy with 
the Saviour in his great work, and a more cordial 
reliance on the aids of the good Spirit—month by 
month, and year by year—and there need be no 
further fear that the cause of Christian missions will 
be forgotten. We cannot labor, with any heart, for 
those in foreign lands, while we feel no concern for 
our next-door neighbors. We cannot offer earnest 
prayer, and give cheerfully of our substance, to save 
the heathen, while we are careless about the pros- 
pects of our own children and friends. Only let the 
Spirit be shed upon us, in copious measure, and 
from those very churches among us, which now 
seem like a wilderness, shall waters break out, and 
where all looks now like a desert, streams of salva- 
tion shall go forth. 

Our duty, Christian friends, all converges toa 
single point. It is prayer, prayer—prayer for the 
Spirit that we need. Such prayer as was offered by 
that little band that waited at Jerusalem for the 
promise of the Father. Such prayer as Brainerd 
offered on the banks of the Susquehanna, and Mar- 
tyn on the plains of India. Such prayer as was 
offered by the dying Backus, when he asked for the 
privilege of getting out of his bed, to lift up his soul 


27 


once more to God. This isa blessing which we 
cannot do without. I would call, then, upon every 
blood-bought disciple of the Saviour here this eve- 
ning; | would lift up my voice in notes loud enough 
to reach every Christian in the land; 1 would send 
out an affectionate exhortation to our brethren and 
sisters abroad, and say, Ye that make mention of the 
Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he 
establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the 
earth. 

Go ask your Father in heaven, that the coming 
twelve months may be signalized everywhere, 
among the churches here and at all our missionary 
stations in nominal Christendom, and in lands of 
pagan darkness, by the pouring down upon us of 
the Spirit of God. 

I feel emboldened to press this point, because I 
know that if that voice could reach us again, to 
which we loved to listen on these hallowed occa- 
sions, and which was heard in tones of such sublime 
serenity, amidst the ocean’s roar and the work of 
death, it would be lifted up with more than all its 
former pathos and power, to charge us to pray for 
the Spirit of God. Two things, that beloved 
brother never forgot—the atonement of Christ, and 
the work of the Spirit. I knew him well from the 
time when his face was first irradiated with the 
smiles of a newly cherished hope, until the Master 
came, in the midst of storm and waves, and dark- 
ness, to call him to himself; and I can testify, that 
never, at home or abroad, in the repose of his own 


28 ~ 


te, 

fireside, or the fatigues of journeys, did he forget his 
indebtedness to Christ and the Spirit.) ) > 

Blest saint! His voice is hushed, but his exam- 
ple shall not be lost upon us. His presence is no 
more seen here, but we will remember the cheerful 
and confiding features of his face. We miss’ him 
from our assemblies, but we know that he still — 
the heathens); svi. svie $e) ve 

That good man is gone, and we shall never all 
meet again. Whatever acquaintance most of us can 
hope to have in this world, we are forming now in 
this holy convocation, while deliberating on the 
" great interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom among 
men, and renewing our pledges of fidelity to him 
over the symbols of his broken body, and shed blood. 
Oh, may our intercourse be such that we’shall review 
it with pleasure, when we come to cast our crowns 
at the feet of Immanuel. 


MR. NORTON’S 


SERMON 


BEFORE THE 


Missionary Society. 


PAITH ON THE SON OF GOD NECESSARY TO EVERLASTING LIFE. 


SERMON 


Massachusetts Missionary Soctety, 
AT THEIR 


Eleventh Annual Meeting, 


IN BOSTON, 


May 29, 1810. 


BY JACOB NORTON, A. M. 


PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN WEYMOUTH. 


BOSTON : 


PRINTED BY LINCOLN & EDMANDS, NO. 53, CORNHILL. 


1810, 


AT A MEETING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
MAY 30, 1810,— 

Vorep, That the Rev. Dr. Hopkins and the Rev. 
Dr. Austin be a Committee to wait on the Secretary, 
and, in the name of the Society, to thank him for his 
Sermon, preached before them last evening, and re- 
quest a copy for the Press. 
Jacop Norron, Sec. 


- 


ac A few sentences in the subsequent Discourse 
were, for want of time, omitted in its delivery. 


- 


SERMON. 


Joun 1. 36. 


HE THAT BELIEVETH ON THE SON HATH EVERLASTING LIFE. 


ALL men, by nature, are the children of wrath. Not only, 
while in this situation, are they exposed to the future and ever- 
lasting wrath of Almighty God ; but they are the objects of his 
immediate wrath. How wretched is their condition! But, 
blessed be God, it is not hopeless. Deliverance from their de- 
plorable wretchedness is an obtainable mercy. Faith in the Son 
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the condition, or method, spe- 
cified in the gospel, by which this mercy is to be obtained. He 
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. To him “there 
is no condemnation.” The believer only is the subject of this 
unspeakably great and precious favour ; for, ‘* he that believeth 
not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth 
on him.” : 

In further attending to the text, I shall distinctly consider, 

I. The object of faith. 
Tl. |The nature of faith. 
III. The consequence of faith. 

The object of faith is first to be considered. 

The object of faith, as specified in the text, is ‘ the Son ;” 
who, in the context, is styled “* the Son of Man,” and * the only 
begotten Son of God ;” and who, by different names, and ina 
variety of views, is frequently exhibited in the gospel, as the ob- 
ject of faith: * Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved.” <“* We believe, and are sure that thou art that 
Christ,” the Messiah, whose advent had been the subject of pro- 


6 ‘ 


phietic declaration. ‘Whom God hath set forth to bea propi- 
tiation, ‘through faith in his blood.” « If thou shalt believe in 
him, that God hath raised from the dead, thou shalt bé'saved.” 
In these passages the object of faith is the same, although diver- 
sified by name and circumstance. "To believe in Jesus as the 
Son ofGod ; as the Christ ; as that illustrious personage of whom 
Moses and the prophets wrote ; as the propitiatory sacrifice, and 
as the ascended Redeemer and Intercessor, implies essentially 
the same thing. And it is obvious to observe that much more 
is implied in thus believing, than is literally expressed. Faith 
in the Son of God, according to its true meaning and just ex- 
tent, is nothing less than the chef of ‘the truth,” as exhibited 
in the gospel by Jesus Christ and his apostles. J 

Tu the same comprehensive sense, God the Father is some- 
times the specified object of faith. “¢ Abraham believed God, 
and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” With pecu- 
liar emphasis our Saviour observed, * Verily, verily, he that be- 
lieveth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.” 

When the object of faith is not distinctly specified, the report, 
or general truth of the gospel, is intended. ‘* He that believeth 
shall be saved.” WKLY ¥ 

The truth, as contained in the gospel, however summarily ex- 
pressed, is the object of faith. 

Il. fam to consider the nature of faith. This consists in the 
assent of the mind to the revealed truth, that Jesus Christ is the 
Son of God; or, that the contents of his gospel are true. The 
simple assent of the mind to gospel truth does not, indeed, con- 
stitute the whole of that faith, which stands connected with, or 
involves everlasting life ; nor does it necessarily imply the exis« 
tence of faith of this description. Of “many of the rulers” of 
the Jewish nation, in the time of our Saviour’s ministry, itis said 
they “¢ believed on him ;”” yet, as they ‘loved the praise of men, 
more than the praise of God,” it is not to-be supposed that their 
faith was of the saving kind, or, that they were the subjects of 
everlasting life. Their belief of the truth not working by love, 
was essentially defective. It was but a dead faith; and there- 
fore unavailable to salvation. And such, itis tobe apprehended, 
is the faith of many at the present day. Destitute of a living and 
powerful spring of action, it fails to ensure to the subjects of it ev- 
erlasting life, The faith, which is available to this end, is, in its 


7 


nature, discriminative and special.. It implies not only the 
assent of the mind to its proper object, but the consent of the 
heart. Dhere is nothing, indeed, in faith of a moral or saving 
nature, aside from this pear or the exercise of the ‘inner 
man.” 

The receiving of Christ, and believing on the name of Chnst, 
are expressions, which, in the gospel, import the same thing. 
“ To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become 
the sons of God, even to them that believeon his name.” Does 
the receiving of Christ imply that the heart spontaneously, and 
with affectionate regard, unbars and unfolds its doors to admit 
and welcome in “this King of glory?” Such, then, are the 
ideas conveyed by ‘¢ believing on his name.” 1 

The eating of the flesh, and the drinking of the blood of 
Christ, are expressions descriptive of suving faith. ‘* Whoso 
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and 
I will raise him up at the last day.” ‘This is the will of him 
that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on 
him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the 
last day.” These are the declarations of * the faithful and true 
Witness,” who holds *¢ the keys of hell and of death.” The res- 
urrection to life is, exclusively, the promised reward of faith ; 
for ‘* he that believeth not shall not see life.” But as the same 
reward is promised to the eating of the flesh and drinking of the 
blood of Christ, it is obvious that the exercise of thus eating and 
drinking, is essentially the same, as the exercise of faith, Now 
as the exercise of eating and drinking with reference to the flesh 
and blood of Christ, implies hungering and thirsting of soul af- 
ter him, and the gratification of these appetites by him, as the 
all-sufficient Saviour, it is evident that these ideas are implied 
in saving faith. 

Charity or love is implied in saving faith, and is inseparable 
from it. Independent of love, no faith, however correct in its 
kind, is either acceptable to God, or profitable to man. Sensi- 
ble of this, the apostle to the Gentiles observes, “* Though I 
have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not 
charity, I am nothing.” “ In Jesus Christ, neither circumcision 
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh 
by love; by love, as its main spring, or vital principle. Iv is 
not less true that ‘the body without the spirit is dead,” than 


8 


that “faith,” without this vital, working prineiple, «is dead 
also.” Love is that animating and operative quality of faith, 
which forms its moral character, and by which its graces, forti- 
tude, hope, and patience, are exercised and supported ; and by 
which all its visible fruits are produced and nourished. 

The expression coming to Christ, is illustrative of the nature 
of saving faith, and conveys, indeed, essentially the same idea. 
Accordingly Christ himself observes, «« He that cometh to me 
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” 
As hungering and thirsting are sensations and desires of soul, 
which involve each other and import essentially the same thing, 
so, itis evident that coming to Christ is but another expression for 
believing on him, But does not this imply the Slowing forth of 
the affections of the heart towards Christ, as the object of its 
love, and the source of its supreme delight and joy? 

From the view which has already been exhibited of saving 
faith, and from subsequent observations, it must appear, that 
it involves genuine or evangelical repentance. Both by Christ 
himself, and his herald, John the baptist, repentance was incul- 
cated, not only as an important duty, but as necessary to the re- 
mission of sin. ‘John did preach the baptism of repentance 
for the remission of sins ;”? and Jesus Christ taught, that «re. 
pentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name 
among all nations.” Agreeably, we find the first heralds of the 
gospel enjoining, ‘¢ repent and be converted, that your sins may 
be blotted out.” Andit was the declaration of Christ to sinners 
in common, ‘except ye repent, ye shall all perish.’ These 
passages clearly shew that repentance is an indispensable requisite 
to the remission of sin; and of course, to everlasting life. But 
do not the scriptures as unequivocally teach, that faith is avail- 
able, through Christ, to the obtainment of these great and un- 
speakably precious blessings? “¢ To him,” to Jesus Christ, 
“gave all the prophets witness, that through his name, whoso- 
ever believeth in him, shall receive remission of sins.” «« These 
things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, 
the Son of God, and that believing, ye might have life through 
his name.”’ As faith in Jesus Christ will effectually secure to 
the subject of it, on the plan of the gospel, the remission of sins 
and eternal life, and yet, as these blessings cannot be secured, 


9 


but by the exercise of repentance, does it not appear that faith 
and repentance not radically and essentially the same ? 

Saying faith, from scripture representation, appears to com- 
prise the whole of Christian exercise, or evangelical obedience. 
‘« This,” said our Saviour to the Jews, ‘‘is the work of God, 
that ye believe on him, whom he hath sent.” The sum of duty, 
the work which God requires of you, is comprehended in faith. 
Believing on the Messiah is that exercise of heart and life, in 
which obedience to the gospel consists. Agreeably with this 
idea is the observation of the apostle to the Gentiles. ‘* The life 
which I now live in the flesh, I dive by the faith of the Son of 
God.” Faith in Jesus Christ constitutes my christian charac- 
ter. In this consists my christian course, or obedience to the 
gospel. That saving faith is essentially the same as evangelical 
obedience, is further evident from the consideration, that Christ 
is the “ Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey 
him,” and yet that he is the Author of this salvation to those on- 
ly, who believe on him. The truth is, that * faith without works 
is dead.” Works, or evangelical obedience, are as essential to 
the existence of saying faith, as is the spirit, ‘to the existence 
of the living man. ‘In Christ Jesus neither circumcision avail- 
eth any thing, nor uncireumcision, but faith which worketh by 
love ;” ‘a new creature ;” ‘the keeping of the commandments 
of God.” This variety of expression does not convey variety 
in meaning, but one andthe same idea. The faith which work- 
eth by love is but another expression for a new creature, and the 
keeping of the commandments of God. Saving faith, then, is 
essentially the same as good works, or evangelical obedience. 
The subject of this faith isa new man in Christ; created in 
Christ Jesus unto good works; the gospel penitent ; the chris- 
tian convert. Ina word, he is, and does, whatever is necessary 
to, and stands connected with everlasting life. 

Ill. The consequence of faith is now to be considered. This, 
in the text, is summarily expressed by everlasting life. This 
life, in embryo, commences indeed simultaneously with saving 
faith, and is, in some respects, essentially the same thing. Such 
is the connection between them, that each is essential to the ex- 
istence of the other. Although faith, in the future world, will 
not be the same, as in the present state of existence, with rela- 


B 


10 , 


tion to circumstance, in a variety of views, - ‘its’ nature will 
never become extinct, nor be subject to ess@mts ‘cha nge. Its 
existence wili be commensurate with the existence of its subject, 
lasting as eternity. These remarks, if correct, evince that eve 
lasting life cannot, in some respects’ at least, be distinguish- 
ed from saving faith, as an effect is distinguishable from 
its cause. In every true believer on earth, Tera tans life 
has commenced its existence. He hath eternal life abiding in 
him, which is a foretaste and sure pledge to him, of life eternal 
in the heavenly world, the glorious consequence and gest) 
mation of faith as exercised in the present life. “f 
At death, believers, in consequence of their faith, will be- 
come the subjects of everlasting life in a perfected state, to the 
exclusion of every thing avenea" in the idea of death. Into 
heaven, the region of life and light, neither sickness, pain, disap- 
pointment, sorrow, darkness, perplexity, nor death of any kind,’ 
will find admittance, to disturb the blest inhabitants. The un- 
interrupted and complete fruition of every thing implied in ife, 
will be their everlasting portion, their exetodane great reward. 
Complete in holiness, their joy will be unspeakable and fall of 
glory. Beholding the transcendent beauties and unclou ided 
glories of Him who sitteth upon the throne, and of the 
Lamb, their affections will glow with the most pure and holy 
ardor._ Towards each other they will exercise the most refined 
benevolence; and love, the most unfeigned, fervent, unmixed. 
Seeing eye to eye, and conscious to ee other’s views and feel- 
ings, the countless myriads of the heavenly inhabitants will par- 
ticipate in each other’s joys; and mingling their purified and 
strong affections, they will become united with the most sacred, 
blissful and indissoluble bond. The amazing, the boundless 
extent and infinite variety of creation ; the wisdom, the harmo- 
ny and wonders of providence, and the surpassing ‘wonders and. 
ineffable grace and glories of redemption, will, clearly, and 
with the most impressive energ’y, strike upon head admiring 
view, and overwhelm their enraptured souls. The vast capaci- 
ties of their minds, continually enlarging, will unceasingly be 
filled with love and joy unspeakable. On the never cloying 
fruits of the tree of life, will they feast to the prevention of pain~ 
ful hunger ; and of the river of the water of life, pure without 
mixture, and clear as chrystal, will they forever drink, to the pre- 


ll 


yention of irksome thirst, In the view of all that is great; and 
glorious, — and excellent, and with supreme love to uncreated 
beauty and infinite loveliness, they will attuneanthems of rap- 
turous praise *‘ to him who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb.” How pure the joys above! how refined, how exalted 
the happmess of heaven! This happiness to endless ages will 
endure ; to endless ages will increase. But how feeble, O, how 
feeble is language to express, how inadequate is the most capa- 
cious mind fully to conceive, what is the breadth, and length, 
and depth, and height of the beatitude of saints in glory! 
But all, all is the reward, or consequence of faith. This is that 
everlasting life of which every true believer has a foretaste in 
this wore, and which he will completely enjoy in the world to 
come. 


IMPROVEMENT. 


1. In the view of this discourse, is it not obvious to remark, 
that between saving faith and error in religious sentiment, ex- 
ists a direct repugnance? Whatever may be the apologies for 
error of this kind, or however trivial it may appear in the view 
of modern catholicism, we are constrained to believe that it may, 
and not unfrequently does furnish unequivocal evidence, that 
the subject of it is destitute of the faith, or temper of the gos- 
pel. The report of the gospel is faithful and true. It is sig- 
nificant; and its meaning is clear and definite. This report, 
or the object of faith, is to be believed according to its real 
meaning or design. It were indeed a palpable solecism, to say 
that the object of faith is truly believed, when that object is 
neither seen, nor rightly conceived by the understanding, Can 
it reasonably be admitted that the man, who thinketh that 
<¢ God is altogether such an one as himself,’’ that Jesus Christ 
<< the true God,” who created all things, that are in heaven, and 
that are in earth, visible and invisible,” was himself a creature, 
and a descendant of Joseph and Mary by ordinary generation ! 
that «there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit,” and that 
unbelievers, so dying, will not be “punished with everlasting 
destruction,” nor be subject even to temporary punishment? 
Can it, my brethren, reasonably be admitted, that the man, 
who thus believes, is the subject of saving faith? Although 
with ‘ fiery zeal’’ he may claim the christian name, his cannot 


@ 


12 


be “the faith which was once deliveréd unto the saints.” T6 
believe “ another gospel,’’ although it © is not another,” but in 
construction only, is incompatible with the « faith of the Son of 
God ;” nor can any one become the dispenser or advocate of this 
other gospel, without i ineurring the curse of Him, by white ins 
spiration the true gospel was given. 1 

By these remarks it is not intended to ‘adiieelades that every de- 
gree of error in sentiment, respecting the report of the gospel, 
is inconsistent with saving faith. The faith of the true believer 
is not unmixed with error. But from this circumstance it is 
not to be inferred, that there is no repugnance between erroneous 
sentiment and the faith of the gospel, which ensures everlasting 
life. Religious error, even in the lowest degree, is unfriendly to 
this faith. Ina high degree, it is inconsistent with its existence. 
Distinctly to mark this degree will not be attempted. We will 
only say that essentially wrong notions, respecting the prominent 
and. fundamental articles of our holy religion, are incompatible 
with the “faith of God’s elect.” To believe that falsehood is’ 
truth, will surely never make a truth of that falsehood. 'To sub- 
stitute darkness for light, as the object of our affections, is sure- 
ly inconsistent with the love of light. Nor will supreme attach- 
ment to moral error, qualify the soul, either for the present or fu- 
ture enjoyment of moral truth. Indeed, the capital errorist, 
with respect to the doctrines of the gospel, is, by just construc- 
tion, the infidel, . 

2. Unbelief, in the sense of the gospel, is but another name. 
for sinful depravity, Saving faith, we have seen, comprises the 
whole of the christian character, or evangelical obedience. But 
is not this faith in direct opposition to unbelief? Is if not evi- 
dent, therefore, that unbelief implies depravity of heart, and is 
not distinguishable from it? Did it consistin merely erroneous 
sentiment or speculation, this would not, indeed, be its charac~ 
ter ; for no exercise of the understanding is, strictly speaking, 
of amoral nature. Neither the assent, nor the dissent of this 
faculty with respect to any proposition, can be of a moral na- 
ture, as such assent or dissent is not dependent on the will, but 
is the necessary result of real or apparent evidence, or the want 
of such evidence in relation to the truth of the supposed rig ne 
sition, No speculative opinions, considered as simply the exer- 
cisesof the understanding, which is not a moral faculty, can 


13 


possess a moral quality. They may indeed be, and not un- 
frequently are, a just index to the state of the heart; but pos- 
sess no quality which belongs to the heart. But-unbelief, ac- 
cording to the scripture sense of the word, is seated in the heart, 
and comprises all its unholy exercises, and is as truly a forbidden 
sin, as faith is a commanded duty. ‘Take heed, brethren, 
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in depart- 
ing from the living God.” Not only is unbelief a sin, a great 
sin; but it is virtually the sum or aggregate of every sin. It 
“makes God a liar,” rejects the Son of God as the Saviour, 
and does despite to the Holy Spirit. It disobeys all the divine 
commands, and disregards all the divine ordinances’ and insti- 
tutions. Its true character, in one word, is disobedience. 

3. Does it not appear, in the light of this discourse, that it is 
incorrect, and tends to confusion of thought, to represent evan- 
gelical obedience, or good works, as resulting from faith, in like 
manner as an effect results from its cause? Not unfrequently 
writers on the subject of faith, distinguish it from evangelical 
obedience, as pre-existing that obedience, and a8, in its nature, 
essentially distinct from it. As the altar sanctifieth the gift, 
so, according to this representation, obedience or good works, 
which otherwise would be unacceptable to God, are, through 
the medium of faith, rendered grateful to the pure eyes of his 
holiness. But is not this distinction a departure from the sim- 
plicity of the gospel ? Is it not an invention of human wis- 


| dom, bewilderimg to the mind, and dangerous in its tendency ? 
| Since “ faith worketh by love,” as its spring of operation, and 


“love is the fulfilling of the law,” or ‘the keeping of the com= 


_ mandments of God,” it obviously appears that it is essentially 
_ the same thing, as evangelical obedience ; and cannot, either in 


theory or practice, be separated from it. And when it is con-= 


_ sidered, that to make a distinction where there is no difference, 


is ‘to darken counsel by words without knowledge,” to ‘ cor- 
rupt the mind from the simplicity that is im Christ,” and to ob- 
scure the light of truth, we cannot but censure this distinction, 
as “* savouring, not the things that be of God, but those that be 
of men.” 

4. Assaving faith includes the whole of evangelical obedience, 
it is apparent that its various denominatiots arise from circum-~ 
stantial considerations, With respect te occasion, circumstance, 


14 


and object, much variety exists in the operation of faith, This 
instamps upon it, not variety of nature, but variety only i in form 
and in name. According to the different views and cireum- 
stances, in which saving faith is exercised, it is called faith, 
love, repentance, hope, meekness, goodness, trust in God ; aud 
by a variety of other appropriate names, But diversity in name 
and variety in form does not destroy or affect identity of nature. 
This remark will, with much pertinency, apply to the case be- 
fore us. When saving faith is exercised immediately towards 
God, as a being “ glorious in holiness,” it is denominated Jove. 
When it is exercised towards him as an offended being, in ap- 
probation of his character and conduct with respect to: sin and 
the sinner, and in suitably ‘‘ condemning sin in the flesh,” it is 
denominated repentance. When it is exercised im relation to 
the glorious realities of the heavenly world, the ‘life and im- 
mortality which are brought to light, in the ers and which 
are promised to all the faithful, it is denominated hope; vand 
when it terminates on Christ, in the exercise of trust in him, as 
the only and all-sufficient Saviour, it is called by its compre- 
hensive name, faith. These examples are sufficient to evince 
the propriety and importance of diversifying faith, as to name, 
while its nature is one and indivisible. : 
5. The doctrine of justification by faith rhe it appears, 
from what has been advanced in this discourse, is a doctrine 
strictly <‘ according to godliness.” It furnishes no encourage- 
ment to spiritual sloth, or licentious pursuits. As saving faith 
imcludes the whole of evangelical obedience, it is evident that 
none can be ina justified state, who neglect to obey the gospel 
of Christ. To advocate the doctrine of justification by faith 
alone, is but to advocate the doctrine of justification by gospel 
obedience ; for this obedience is ‘‘ the obedience of faith,” The 
preaching of this doctrine, so far from having a dangerous ten- 
dency, either with respect to the cause of religious and moral 
truth, or the salvation of the souls of men, is the only method 
to be pursued, ‘which is favourable to their security and promo- 
tion. This doctrine is indeed liable to abuse. “* They that are 
unlearned and unstable” may, and it is to be feared not unfre- 
quently do, * wrest” it, ‘¢ as they do also the other scriptures, 
unto their own destruction.” But the doctrine is not surely the 
less scriptural or important, because it is perverted to evil and — 
destructive purposes, we 


13 


‘Faith, indeed, is not to be considered as the meritorious 
ground or reason of justification. This is the “ redemption 
which isin Christ Jesus.” Faith is only the condition, or ne- 
cessary pre-requisite to a justified state ; therefore, although 
indispensably necessary to justification, it is wholly excluded as 
the meritorious ground, or reason of its bestowment. The 
grant of this blessing is made, solely with a view to, or on ac- 
count of the mediatorial work of Christ; the most important 
part of which, was his making “his soul an offering for sin.” 

6. It is to be inferred from this discourse that the unbeliever 
will, so dying, be excluded from everlasting life, and doomed 
to all the evil or suffering, implied in his exclusion. This in- 
ference is expressed by the words immediately succeeding the 
text. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but 
the wrath of God abideth on him.” Destitute of that life, 
which is the commencement and pledge of life everlasting, he 
shall never see, never enjoy this life. In the present state of 
existence, eligible as his situation in other respects may be, he is 
a stranger to the happiness, which results from believing in Je- 
sus; and which only is capable of satisfying the vast desires of 
the immortal mind. “Like the troubled sea, when it cannot 
rest,” he is far from peace. Whatever of pleasure he may 
enjoy in sin, it is but “as the crackling of thorns under a pot,” 
which make a transient and tumultuary blaze, to be succeeded 
by cheerless and gloomy darkness. Nor will he ever see the 
light of life, but be forever excluded from that world, whose 
light is the glory of God and the Lamb. 
| Not only is the unbeliever a stranger to all permanent and sat- 
| ~ isfying happiness in this world, and is to be forever excluded 
from happiness in the world to come; but the wrath of God 
abideth on him; now abideth on him; and, dying in this situ- 
ation, its pressure will sink him down deeper and deeper in the 
bottomless gulf of hopeless misery and black despair, forever 
andever. The wrath of God! Not merely displeasure and re- 
sentment are expressed by this word; but indignation, ven- 
geance, fury; the highest degree of holy anger. The wrath of 
God! Not the wrath of an equal, nor the wrath of a man cloth- 
ed with the power of life and death; but the wrath of the Al- 
mighty, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, the rocks are rent, 
the foundations of the everlasting mountains are shaken, the sun 


16 


is tumed into darkness, and the moon into blood ; and whose 
frown adds horror to the dark regions of hell. It is the wrath 
of this great and terrible God, of which the anbeligs ris the 
wretched subject. The wrath of God abideth. Drea and 
tremendous as it is, this wrath does not burn with aie 
flashes, with intermittent corruscations ; “but it abideth, per 
nently abideth. Like the sun it burns’ and glows with the great- 
est intensity, and without intermission. The wrath of God a- 
bideth upon him; upon the unbelieyer, upon . his whole “person, 
ay and soul united. O, how unspeakably, how indescriba- 

ly wretched is the condition of the unbelieving sinner ! Under 
the immediate wrath of Almighty God, and forever to endure 
that wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture of mer- 
cy ! Horror of horrors! How dreadful in prospect ! But O, how 
much more dreadful the endurance to interminable ages | ! Such, 
such is the consequence of unbelief. 

7. Must we not infer from this discourse, that Jews, Mahom- 
etans and Pagans are subject to the wrath of God, and, that 
dying in adherence to their respective religions, they will nev- 
er see life? From this inference, I am not insensible, the benev-~ 
olent mind is apt to revolt; nor is the inference perhaps ad- 
missible, but in a qualified construction. It is made with re- 
ference neither to infants nor ideots; nor indeed, to any but 
those, who, strictly speaking, are moral and intelligent agents. 
But with respect to these, whether they be Jews, Mahometans, 
or Pagans, are we not constrained to believe that this inference 
is an awful truth! As this is a subject in relation to which no 
decision is to be made, but in the light of revelation, to this 
light, and not to the opinions of uninspired men, at Becomes us 
diligently to take heed. 

During his ministry among them, our Saviour frequently 
taught the Jews the necessity of faith im the gospel, in order 
to justification and life. On a certain occasion, he assured 
them, in the most unequivocal manner, that they could not 
obtain remission of sin, but by believing m him, asthe Messiah, 
“If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die m your sins.” 
This declaration cannot, it should seem, be of doubtful inter- 
pretation, with respect to those, to whom it was immediately 
addressed. But can it be less true that: faith i in Christ > was to 
the Jews an indispensable requisite-to remission of sin, and ey- 


17 


erlasting life, eighteen centuries past, than it has been in every 
succeeding period down to the present moment? Is the evi- 
dence less striking or forcible now, that Jesus is indeed the 
Messiah, than it was while he dwelt among men, and exhibited 
his glory ? Rather, has not the evidence of this great and inter- 
esting truth been accumulating from the reign of Augustus 
Ceasar, to the present eventful era? And does not this evi= 
dence. present itself. to the view, and lie on a level with the 
understanding of every Jew, in every clime? Can it then rea~ 
sonably be admitted that Jews will obtain remission of sin, and 
everlasting life, while they reject Jesus Christ as the Son of 
God, the true Messiah? In doing this, they cannot, surely, be 
less excusable than were their ancestors, during his. per- 
sonal ministry among them. Nor will their infidelity, per- 
sisted in, bring upon them a less awful condemnation. If they 
believe not that Christ is He, the Son of God, like their infidel 
ancestors they will assuredly die in their sins. 

Although the disciples of the Arabian impostor may not ‘om 
in a situation so criminal as that of the Jews, yet is it not equal- 
ly dangerous? Mahometan superstition and imposture are 
surely not less repugnant to faith in Christ, or inconsistent with 
remission of sin and the bestowment of everlasting life, than 
Jewish infidelity. The Koran contains a system of religion 
composed of mis-shapen and heterogeneous materials, which 
generally are inconsistent with the doctrines _— 

In the founder of the Mahometan religion™were united all 
those traits of character, which form a striking contrast to the 
amiable and divine virtues, which adorned the character of 
Him, who is the Author and Finisher of our most holy faith. 
And the religion which that vile impostor propagated, and, 
which now casts its dark and destructive shade over a great por= 
tion of the Eastern world, is strikingly characteristic of its au< 
thor. Destitute of the features, how impious is its claim toa 
divine original! Denying that Christ is the Son of God, it re- 
jects as well the Father as. the Son. Although the Koran ac~, 
knowledges Jesus as a prophet, yet it exalts far above him, its 
shameless author, ‘ by making him the last great restorer of 
truth and virtue to the world ;” and by superadding the obliga 
tion and necessity of believing in him in this character. 


L 


18 


What must be the inspiration of that religion which cherishs 
es the most sensual appetites, is accommodated to the» worst 
passions, inspires the most erroneous opinions, and nourishés 
the most inveterate prejudices of the humaw heart!'. A religion 
- hostile to every noble achievement, ‘and friendly to ignorance, 
superstition, and all the evils of despotism! Avreligion which 
represents the God of infinite purity rather as*preseribing laws 
favourable to heentiousness, than restrictive to thesallies of un- 
hallowed appetites and sinful propensities; and which, indeed, 
represents him as an impure and capricious being! A religion 
which justifies rapine and bloodshed, when exercised against 
those who do not blindly embrace it, -not-only as in ; 
but as eminently qualifying its votaries for a paradise of the 
most sensual and voluptuous enjoyment oy 6) 

Is not this a religion, my brethren, whose birth is to be traced 
up to the most selfish and impure designs, and whose tendency 
and influence are, in every view, the most baleful and perni= 
cious? Who can doubt the origin frem whieh: it flowed, as its 
most prominent features are ae “ earthly, sen< 
sual, devilish ?” ‘ Peael Tobb ed 

This is the religion sah biotic by the disciples of Mahomet ; 
and to this religion their attachment is *¢ stronger than death,” 
But is not the character, the spirit of this religion in direct:con~ 
trast to “the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ ?? Camit then, in 
any degree, aay the soul for admittance into “ the kingdom of 
God, which is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace 
and joy in the Holy Ghost?” Into this kingdom '*‘nothing 
shail in any wise enter, that defileth, neither whatsoever work- 
eth abomination, or maketh a lie.” Is it net, then, a rational 
aid necessary conclusion, that the Mahometan, who lives under 
the influence, and dies possessed of that temper, which the re- 
ligion of the Koran inspires, cannot see life 3) but must be sub- 
ject to the everlasting wrath of the all holy and jealous God 

Uncongenial as the Mahometan religion isto the pure spirit of 
Chieidideitl and inconsistent as it appears with the remission of 
sin and the bestowment of everlasting life, Paganism is, if pos- 
sible, less congenial with the spirit of that holy religion ; and jis 
not less: incompatible with the bestowment of those great and 
unspeakable blessings. teae some views the Pagan religion’ is 


AeA aaa 


19 
more absurd in principle, and more. pone in, practice than 
the religion. of the Koran, 
The Mahometan religion is not ca with val impiety of 
polytheism and grossidolatry, But Paganism furnishes an enor- 
mous catalogue of deities, to whom it ascribes the ntost disgrace- 
ful follies and shocking vices; and the worship which it pays to 
these imaginary beings, is, in many respects, perfectly consistent 
with the disgraceful and impious attributes, with which it clothes 
_ them. What, my brethren, can be found in the whole system 
of Pagan idolatry, calculated to sanctify the sinful affections of 
the heart, or to raise the soul to the pure and refined joys of im- 
mortality > Do the scriptures ever timate that there is any 
connexion between polytheism and everlasting life ? or that pa- 
gan idolaters will inherit the kingdom of God? ‘* Whosoever 
shall call on the name of the Lord,” the Lord of heaven and 
earth, shall be saved.” But ‘how shall they (the heathen) 
callon him, in whom they have not believed? And how shall 
they believe in him of whom they have not-heard?”’ Ancient 
Israel having ‘‘ forgotten the law of God, were destroyed for lack 
of knowledge.’ How then can they be saved, who, “¢ sitting in 
the region and shadow of death,” are, in a much higher degree, 
destitute of the knowledge of the truth? How could the Jew- 
ish expounders of the law hinder those who were entering into 
the kingdom of God by “taking away the key of knowledge,” 
if that key were not necessary to their entrance ? 

Aside from believers or Christians, “‘ the whole world’, in the 
apostolic age, ‘lay in wickedness.” This is now-the deplorable 
situation of the Pagan world. But how can they, who are im- 
mersed in wickedness, and‘die in that state, rise to everlasting 
life? ** Except aman be born again, he cannot see the king- 
dom of God.” . This birth is effected, not by the mstrumental- 
ity of **corruptible seed,” impure and corrupt doctrines; but 
by ‘“‘incorruptible;” ‘* by the word of God;’ ‘through the 
gospel’’ of Christ. This is that <¢ good seed,” which, falling on 
“< good ground, springeth up and beareth fruit an hundred fold.” 
Bat is fruit to be expected where no seed is sown? ¢ Idolaters 
shall not inherit the kmgdom of God.’’ But is it to be expect- 
ed that they-will be brought to renounce idolatry, and be made 
wise unto salvation, except by the scriptures of truth? To idol- 
aters the ‘‘ gospel is hid ;’’ but it is hid to them that are lost.” 
And to those only it seems to be sent, who were ordained ¢g eter- 


20 


nal life. When it was published. anon iA pts 
tles of our Lord, we find that ‘as many as were ordained to~ 
eternal life, believed.” Because there was ** much people” of 
this description in the idolatrous city of ‘Corinth,’ Paul was ex=- 
pressly required to preach the gospel in that city. This*gospel | 
is called “the word of salvation.’ How’ then cam idolaters be | 
saved but through the instrumentality of its saving light upon ' 
their minds, and power upon their hearts?" s)he 
Although we would not peremptorily decide that none will’ be » . 
saved, who do not enjoy the gospel, and in a direct manner be-~ 
lieve on the Son of God; yet we donot hesitate to avow the - 
belief, that if any among the Jews, Mahometans and’ Pagans, * 
are saved, the number is comparatively very small; and, indeed, | 
that none among them will be saved, unless they be possessed of » 
the temper of heart which is pesinnee ‘the faith of God’s” 
elect.”” oD po ahs Prarae anil erly 
8. In the view of this Fiend does it rehash estlye bhp 
that the sentiment advocated by not a few, at the present day, 
that it is of but little importance what scheme of religion a man ~ 
embraces, originates from gross blindness of the heart? How ~ 
can that religion be “ just to God, or safe for man,” which’ op=~ 
poses the character exhibited by Christ, during his public min~ + 
istry on earth, and which rejects the doctrines he taughtand im=~ 
culcated ? How can the religion, which venerates a vile and © 
shameless impostor, as the true prophet of God, and which 
cherishes the desire and expectation of a future reward, coiisist- 
‘ing in voluptuousness the most selfish and alluring to the unho- | 
ly mind, conduct to the pure regions of endless life ? How can — 
a religion which nourishes ‘¢ vile affections,” which changes 
the truth of God into a lie,” and which “ worships and serves » 
the creature more than the Creator,” procure admittancé into 
that holy city, where nothing in any wise can enter, * that de 
fileth or maketh a lie?”» And to what source is that latitudi- 
narian doctrine to be traced, which removes these obstacles to . 
salvation, but to an evil heart of unbelief, which darkens and . 
perverts the understanding ? 1 ee RY Mele iene ey 
We are sometimes told, indeed, that God delights no less in © 
variety, with respect to religion, than with respect to his works ;_ 
that variety in religious opinion, like the collision of flmt and 
steel, elicits the sparks of truth; that it is conducive to much 
good, and therefore, that this variety, in none of its parts, can 


21 


beidestructive to the souls of'men. “However specious this rea~ 
soning, itis, we are persuaded, radically unsound, and danger- 
ously delusive. No moral or religious error can be pleasing or 
acceptable in the eyes of infinite purity. Nor is such error the 
less hateful in the sight of God or good men, nor the less bale- 
ful and destructive to the subject of it, because, under the direc- 
tion of divine providence, it is made subservient to good and ex- 
cellent purposes. The unspeakable and boundless good which 
resulted from the crucifixion of Christ, cannot surely be urged as 
an extenuation of the crime of his betrayer, or of his murderers. 
The truth is, that erroneous doctrines in religion, whether 
they exist among Jews, Mahometans, Pagans, or Christians, 
areas really opposed to the revealed will, or command of God, 
as overt acts of wickedness. Both equally arise from sinful de- 
pravity, or an evil heart of unbelief; equally contemn the di- 
vine law, and defame the divine character and administration. 
Agreeably, the Bible speaks the language of severity and con- 
demnation with equal plainness against erroneous sentiments, 
as evil practices. Among these sentiments are to be found 
‘¢ damnable heresies,’’ “‘ doctrines of devils,”’ and “the believing 
a lie,” which terminates in destruction. - And they who preach 
them are pronounced “‘accursed.””’ Whence, then, but from 
gross blindness of heart, originates the sentiment, that it is of 
little importance what system of religion a man adopts, and 
that no errors in opinion are incompatible with everlasting life ? 
9. Does it not appear from what has been advanced in this 
discourse, that the subjects of saving faith must be engaged in 
deeds of active and diffusive benevolence? Not only do they 
wish peace on earth, and exercise good will towards men; but 
to promote their best interest, is the object of their actual pur- 
suit. Wain and dead is that faith, which worketh not by love; 
and vain and useless is that love, which delighteth not to “do 
good and communicate.’ The faith of the gospel will not fail 
to manifest itself by visible acts, in doing good to all within the 
reach of its benign influence. If the subjects of this faith, 
must we not, my brethren, cheerfully exert ourselves to mel- 
iorate the condition of our suffering fellow beings, with respect, 
to this world, and especially, to secure their everlasting happi< 
ness in the world to come? , 


92 . . 
' ‘l tft pot! 4 Geta, 00 -) ee 

Would we be instrumental of effecting in the best manner, 
this great and benevolent object ? Let us then studiously tal 
heed to ourselves, in regulating our hearts and our by th 
faith of the gospel ; by shunning the very “appearance of evi 
by “adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things 7” 
by making our light shine with pure, equable and 
lustre ; thus giving evidence to all around us, that we have co- 
piously imbibed the spirit of the gospel, and that ‘we ‘feel its 
holy and | animating influence on our hearts. Of littleavail will 
be the best precepts, and all other means we may use, to 
fecting of “ the obedience of faith” in our fellow men, if wnae- 
companied by soundness of faith and purity of example, 

To example, we should, with much assiduity, add doctrine, 
reproof and instruction, when, and wherever there ratueasah 
for it. This will give weight to example. Exai aple will’ give 
weight to this. Their joimt infl uence will be likely to produce 
the most desirable effects, in promoting the fear and love of 
God in our families, and sobermindedness in the rising genera- 
tion; in seriously impressing the thoughtless ; in alarming the 
secure ; in carrying salutary conviction to the minds of the wa- 
vering and incredulous; and in turning the licentious in senti- 
ment and practice from their errors, to the love and practice of 
the truth as it is in Jesus. To these things let us subjoin pra 
er. A three fold cord possesses strength not easy to be broken. 
God has the hearts of wicked men in his hands, and it is his tc 
turn them as the rivers of water are turned. Yet for this 1 
he be inquired of by his people to do it for them. “ The effec- 
tual fervent prayers of the righteous avail much.” Seldom, if 
ever, does a revival of religion occur in any place or society, but 
. in answer to fervent prayer. And to this source is not ¢ pase 
dividual conversion, in some measure at least, t » be’ traced ? 
With what importunity then, with what fervour, and with what 
faith unfeigned does it become us to address ourse ves in) yrayer 
to God, that he would be pleased in merey to succes e ae n- 
deavours for the salvation of precious, dying souls around us! 
«« He hath never said to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in va n.” 
Animating consideration! O that it might quicken us to pour 


out our souls in strong desires, and to cry mightily unto Him, 


who heareth and answereth prayer, that those around us who are. 


. 


23 


ready to perish, might, by the intervention of saving mercy, be 
snatched as brands from the burning... 

_ Aside from these things let us with wisdom and discretion de- 
vise, and with resolution and energy carry into effect, measures 
for rendering our civil laws efficaciously a terror to evil doers, a 
restraint te evil and licentious practices, and an encouragement 
to whatever is praise worthy and of good report. By suitable 
exertion in this way, how much might be effected in prevent- 
ing the profanation of the holy Sabbath, in the suppression of 
gambling, profane cursing and swearing, intemperance, and a 
host of other alarming and baleful vices. Nor let uS*View with 
the languor of indifference, the rage for luxury and extrava- 
gance, amusements and dissipation, which has risen among us 
toa height not to paralleled in the past annals of our country. 
Is nothing to be done to check this rank and growing evil? An- 
imated with an holy ardor, and influenced by ‘the meekness 
of wisdom,” may we not do much in this important enterprise ? 

You will permit me further to suggest, whether, under the 
influence of that ‘‘ faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is with- 
out respect of persons,” which <‘seeketh not her own,” and 
which ‘is without partiality,” it will not be with us an impor- 
tant object to diminish the violence of political collision; to 
quench the angry sparks and enkindling flame, which are thence P 
produced, and to persuade contending parties to substitute, in 
the room of acrimonious crimination and re-crimination, that 
** soft answer which turneth away wrath?” Let us beseech 
them “ by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” to abandon 
the madness of ‘casting firebrands, arrows and death,” and 
gently to place upon each other’s heads those inoffensive, but 
glowing coals, which shall communicate light to the under- 
standing, and a genial and melting warmth to the heart. 

Such, it is believed, must be our conduct, and such the refor- 
mation which must take place among ourselves, and in the 
more immediate limits of our influence and exertion, before our 
energies will reach, to the best advantage, toa more extended 
circuit. Isit our heart’s desire and prayer to Ged for our breth- 
ren in the remote settlements of our country, who are famished 
«< for lack of knowledge,” that they might be saved through the 
instrumentality of missionary labours? Do we wish with the 
fairest prospect of success to send the saving truths of the gospel 


24 


to the tawny and savage tribes of the western wilderness,owho are 
ready to perish ? Then let us be upand “doing” whatsoever “our 
, hands find to do, to revive “pure and undefi ”” . 
ourselves. Let those of us who are vested with the sacre char= 
acter of ambassadors for Christ, follow with greater assiduity 
and circumspection, the heavenly steps of our divine Master: 
Abstracting ourselves as far as practicable from worldly cares 
and pursuits, let us be more diligent and engaged in-our  re= 
searches after the great and invaluable treasure of gospel truth. 
Let us exercise and cherish that solicitude,and»loye for the 
precious souls committed to our charge which are stronger than 
death. Let us preach the unsearchable riches of Christ with 
greater plainness, affection and energy, ‘* im season and out of 
season ;”’ not forgetting, from house to house, to ‘ reprove, re- 
buke, and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.’ Let 
us live more like Christians, more like Christian. ministers, 
hereby exhibiting ‘lucid proof” that we are honest, | zealous, 
ardent in the sacred cause of God our Saviour, and that for the 
love we bear to immortal souls, we count not our ease, ‘our 
enjoymeuts, or even life dear to ourselves. eee Be | 
Let those of:us who are clothed with civil authority discharge 
the duties of our office with that fidelity and noble contempt of 
popular applause which will strike terror into evil doers, and 
minister encouragement unto those who do well. And let-us 
all, who have named the name of Jesus, whatever may be. our 
situation in life, be careful to depart from all iniquity, and to do 
every thing in our power to recommend to all around us that 
holy religion which we profess. — neuen loeeanae, Lush 
Under these circumstances, my brethren, with what fayoura- 
ble prospect of success should we send forth labourers into the 
missionary harvest! The purity, the brightness of our faith, 
our charity and our zeal, would strike a lightsome vista to our 
frontiers, and into the regions and shadow of \death inhabited 
by our wretched and perishing fellow beings. Example is ir~ 
resistably impressive. Its light will dissipate the grossest dark~ 
ness. Its influence, the most benign, will, like the ¢ leaves of 
the tree of life, be for the healing of the nations.” 4. 
Let our brethren, who are destitute, or scantily supplied 
with religious instruction, but be fully convinced that in sup- 
plying their wants, we are influenced’by the most pure and dis- 


7 


25 


interested motives; let the impression be deeply made upon 
their minds that the heralds of the gospel, who visit and labour 
among them, are sent by those who feel the most tender solici- 
tude for their everlasting interest, and whose great and leading 
object is the glory of God, in diffusing as far as possible the 
savour of the Redeemer’s name and the triumphs of his cross— 
and what are the desirable and great effects which we might not 
hope would be produced on their minds, their hearts, their con- 
duct! With what a glow of holy zeal and heavenly enthusiasm 
would missionaries, under such circumstances, go forth from 
among us into the unculiivated vineyard! and with what fideli- 
ty, energy and success would they discharge the benevolent, 
though arduous duties of their mission ! 

Besides, were we but instrumental of effecting so desirable a 
state of things among ourselves, how great the abundance, 
which would soon be cast into the treasury, for the building up 
of Zion! The hearts, the hands of all would be opened. Who 
would not cheerfully contribute of his worldly substance, “‘ as 
God had prospered him,” to the aid of this important object ? 
Ample, we might hope, would soon be our means for sending 
missionaries in every direction, and “to every nation, and kin- 
dred, and tongue, and people, that dwell on the earth.” And 
like our means, great would be the company of those, who, 
“strong in faith,” would, “by pureness, by knowledge, by 
long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love un- 
feigned, by the power of God,” cheerfully go forth ‘‘ triumph- 
ing in Christ, and making manifest the savour of his knowledge 
im every place.” 

Is the expectation, my brethren, visionary and unfounded, 
that the time is not far distant, when, from the United States, 
missionaries will ‘ go into all the world and preach the gospel 
to every creature?” Yes, my brethren, when men in the be- 
nevolent spirit and with the holy ardour of an Eliot, a Bramerd, 
a Tennent, will, under the patronage of the Massachusetts 
Missionary Society, go forth into every region of the habitabie 
globe, with the everlasting gospel in their hands, in their 
hearts and upon their tongues; accompanied with the fer- 
vent prayers of thousands for their success? Will they not 
visit the « outcasts of Israel,’ who, although they have long been 
a “by-word, a scorn and a hissing among all the nations, 
whither they have been driven,” are yet ‘ beloved for the fa- 

D 


26 


thers’ sake.’’ Will they not, with the most urgent and lumi- 
nous arguments, and with the most persuasive accents, be in- 
strumental to the conversion of this despised and wretched peo- 
ple from their obstinate infidelity to the faith of the gospel— 
to their flocking to the standard of the cross ? Will they not es- 
tablish the pure, the simple, yet sublime system of Christianity 
on the ruins of the Mahometan imposture, and raise the minds 
and desires of its deluded yotaries from debasing sensuality to 
the purity of heavenly enjoyment ? Will they not dissipate the 
thick darkness of Paganism, by the “shining light” of divine 
truth ? and persuade the besotted idolater ‘to cast his idols of 
silver, and his idols of gold to the moles and to the bats 2” 
Through their instrumentality will not ‘* Ethiopia soon stretch 
out her hands unto God,” in humble prayer and exalted praise ? 
Will not <“* the isles which are afar off be glad” and shout halle- 
lujahs to the Lamb! Will not “ the wilderness be glad for them, 
and the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose,” and unnum- 
bered millions hail them blessed! Animating, delightful an- 
ticipation! We pray God it may not prove “ like the baseless _ 
fabric of a vision,” but a substantial and glorious reality. 

Do ‘shadows, clouds and darkness,’’ political and moral, 
now rest on the face of creation? Do ye behold ‘upon the 
earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and waves 
roaring ?”? Are ‘*men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for 
Inakibg after those things which are coming upon the earth er 
Yet “let not your tisasiail be troubled ;” for ** when these things 
begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; 
for your redemption,” the redemption of Zion, ‘ draweth nigh ;’” 
«the kingdom of God,” the glorious millennium, ‘is nigh at 
hand.” Gloomy and portentous as is the present aspect of” 
things, m a variety of views, a bright and animating scene lies 
beyond it. And can we not, with the clear, strong and steady 
eye of faith, pierce the intervening gloom, and discover light, 
and peace, and joy returning to that creation, which, darkened, 
sorrowful and wretched, had long ‘* groaned and _trayailed,”’ 
and, ‘‘ with earnest expectation had. waited for the manifesta- 
tion” of that glorious scene! Do we not witness the oceurrence 
of events in almost every portion of our world, which, with 
much confidence we may believe, are preparatory to that ex- 
pected, and earnestly wished for manifestation ? 

Amid the revolutions and the conyulsed state of thing J in 
Europe, how many are our Christian brethren, who, animated 


27 


by a philanthropic and holy ardour not to be repressed by any 
discouragement, are making the most vigorous exertions to 
meliorate the condition of the wretched, and to send salvation 
to the ends of the earth. Behold their numerous missionaries, 
men full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, regardless of dangers, 
patient of suffermgs, nobly superior to sordid considerations 
and the allurements of ease! Behold them labouring with in- 
defatigable industry and zeal in almost every clime from be- 
youd the southern extreme of the burning zone to the freezing 
regions of the North, to bring those who are perishing in igno- 
rance to the saving knowledge of the truth. Into how many 
different languages, Pagan and Mahometan, are the wondrous 
things of God’s law, and the glorious things of the gospel of 
Jesus Christ translated and published, or preparing for publi- 
cation ! Behold the way prepared, or im a state of preparation 
for millions of souls, enveloped by the shades of darkness, to 
read and to hear, in their respective languages, the wonderful 
words and the wonderful works of God ! They have now the sure 
word of prophecy, to which, we believe with confidence they will 
soon “take diligent heed as unto a light that shineth4n a dark 
place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in their hearts.” 
Already, indeed, has this star begun, with feeble and obstructed 
Tays, to shine in the East; a glorious harbinger to the dawning 
of intellectual and spiritual day, and to the rising of the re- 
splendent Sun of righteousness upon that benighted world, with 
healing m his beams. Glorious prospect! How should our 
hearts bound with joy in its contemplation ! 

In the view of the great things which our transatlantic breth- 
ren have done, and with increased zeal are still doing for the 
enlargement of the Redeemer’s kingdom, can our minds, Chris- 
tian brethren, be subject to the torpor of indifference ? can our 
hearts feel the benumbing chill of insensibility? Laudable, 
generous, noble emulation, forbid it! Must not every energy, 
both of our inner and outer man, be roused to devise, and con- 
strained to execute liberal means of co-operation with those 
who have taken the lead in the most excellent and noble 
achievements? Something indeed has already been done 
among us by pecuniary contributions to encourage their hearts 
and strengthen their hands in the furtherance of their designs 
and exertions. But does not much more remain to be done? 
And were we, my brethren, duly to estimate the worth of souls, 
and to feel suitable concern for their everlasting salvation, 


28 ” 


should we not devise, and avail ourselves of means to send her- 
alds of reconciliation to the Jews, Mahometans and Pagans, to — 
persuade them to embrace the Saviour, and in his name to be- 
seech them to be reconciled unto God? Have we not the abili- 
ty to engage in this great and excellent enterprise? But 

this ability want excitements to exertion ? Can we contemplate, 
in a contrasted view, the great and. precious privileges civil and 
religious which we enjoy, and the wretched and perishing situa~ 
tion of these our fellow beings, and not feel a desire, too ardent 
to be restrained, for their emancipation? And to execute this 
great and generous purpose, should not our most vigorous ener~ 
gies be engaged? In this heavenly employment how greatly 
might we diminish the load of human misery, and increase the 
ageregate of human happiness! «In the mean time how much 
should we enlarge the sphere of our own religious powers ; cher~_ 
ish the best feelings of our hearts, and add to the fund of our 
most rational and ‘dates enjoyments ! 

Deeply impressed with the belief that the gospel is of dining 
original ; that it contains the words of everlasting life, and that it 
«is the power of God unto salvation to them that believe,” con- 
templating the unspeakable worth of the soul, and the infinite 
wrath of God, to which the many millions of our fellow men are 
exposed ; and reflecting on the joy undeseribable and full of 
elory, of which, by the foolishness of preaching, they might be= 
come the recipients, must we not be up and doing in their bes 
half, with all our might, whatsoever our hands may find to do? 

Gratitude, commiseration, christian benevolence, charity 
and holy zeal! forbid that we should view this great and inter- 
esting subject with cold indifference and unfeeling neglect, 
All these noble and divine principles call upon us, m language 
too loud not to be heard, and in strains of eloquent persuasion 
too powerful to be disregarded, to communicate, as far as may 
be to others, the great and precious blessings which we enjoy, 

But should these suggestions with respect to extending’ the 
sphere of missionary labours be judged premature and imprac- 
ticable, it is most deyoutly to be wished that they may stimu- 
late to greater diligence and exertion to promote the culture of 
a less extended field. ‘ 

Respectfully soliciting the attention of the Waka chine 
Missionary Society to the wretched situation of the natives of 
she western forests, we would with deep solicitude ask, whether 
gzuch more than has hitherto been successfully attempted, may 


' 29 


not be done in reducing them to a state of civilization, and to 
sober and industrious habits; in encouraging their improve- 
ment in useful arts; in illuminating their minds with the beams 
of science, and in bringing them to the knowledge, the love 
and practice of the saving truths of our holy religion? How 
great, Christian brethren, beyond the power of calculation, would 
be the service, should we be instrumental, although butin a few 
instances, of blending their interests for futurity, with those of 
the present life ? To make vigorous effort to effect this object, 
weare strongly solicited ; for we are fallen upon those times and 
seasons, which are peculiarly favourable for planning with wis- 
dom, and executing with success, what, in past times and seasons, 
has been attempted in vain, or with but inconsiderable effect. 
Does not the situation of our brethren on our frontier settle- 
ments, and in such places, as ina great measure are destitute 
of the preaching and ordinances of the gospel, invite increased 
sympathy, renewed, and greater exertion for their relief? When 
we consider the scantiness of their pecuniary resourses to pro~ 
cure religious instruction; the ignorance which is inseparable 
from their situation ; the erroneous and dangerous sentiments 
with which their minds are assailed, by men unstable, unlearn- 
ed and artful; and the facility with which they may be « carri- 
ed aboyt with every wind of doctrine ;” when we consider the 
clashing of sectarianism among them, the prevalence of error, 
and-the numerous evils thence resulting, shall we not be excit- 
ed by holy zeal to diffuse in those regions, with greater care 
and assiduity, the pure ard unadulterated doctrines of the 
cross ? Must we not feel an increased obligation to confront 
these evils with missionaries of a truly apostolic spirit; men of 
prudence, zeal, and sound in the faith; men of experience, of 
a ready mitid, apt to teach, men who are well acquainted with 
the artifiees of those, who lie in wait to deceive; men, who are 
eminently qualified for the defence of the great and distinguish- 
ing truths of the gospel, and for the subversion of the specious 
and subtle systems of error? Of how deep concern to the im- 
portant object of our institution is it, that we avail outselves, 
as far as possible, of the abilities and labours of such men! 
And how much does it become us fervently to pray the Lord of 
the harvest, that he would raisé up, and, through our instru- 
mentality, send forth many such labourers into the missionary 
harvest! May we not indulge the pleasing expectation, that, 
in due time, will issue from the sehool of the prophets in this 


30 MP oi 


vicinity, men of this description ? Skilful and eminent artifi- 
cers for the building of Zion are indeed expected from that 
flourishing institution. May the expectation be fully realized. 

My fathers and brethren of this Missionary Society will per- 
mit me, with the mingled emotions of affection and gratitude, 
to congratulate them on the auspicious return of the eleventh 
anniversary of our institution. May the holy incense of praise 
to God our Saviour, with animating warmth, rise gratefully 
from our hearts to his mercy seat, that «* hitherto he hath help- 
ed us ;” that he has been pleased to inspire us with that broth- 
erly affection which has prevented our “ falling out by the 
way ;”” and so harmoniously to join us together in the same 
mind and in the same judgment ;”’ that he has been pleased 
so far to crown with success, our united efforts, for the advance- 
ment of the interests of his kingdom among men, as, in no 
small degree, to encourage our hearts and strengthen our hands ; 
that he has been biddded to preserve our lives another year; to 
assemble us together on this interesting occasion, in the “ city 
of our solemnities,’’ and to enable us ‘to bring an offering” 
and come into his courts. 

How great, how important, christian brethren, is the object 
of our institution, and of the present meeting! It is to” restore, 
in the most important and glorious sense, sight to’ the, blind, 
hearing to the deaf, health to the diseased, RN to the 
sorrowful, liberty to captives, life to the dead. It is, without a 
figure, to save sinners from everlasting wrath, and bring them 
into the possession of everlasting life. Compared with this, 
what is the object, great and important as it may be, in the es- 
timation of the world, which does not sink into insignificance 
and disappear! With this object in view, can our zeal be too 
great, our prayers too importunate, or our exertions too dili- 
gent and energetic! To carry it into effect, can too much be 
done, or too great a sacrifice be made? To be instrumental of 
saving a single soul from hell, were a glory, a gain inconceiva- 
bly greater than the acquisition of mountains of gold, and 
rocks of diamond. Blessed be God, that by his good hand 
upon us, we have so much reason to believe, we have been in- 
strumental of this great salvation, not merely to an individual, 
but to many souls. To God belongs, to ~ name be ae 
the glory. ’ 

In the divine favour, for future and inereased success, we 
place the most unshaken confidence, The cause in which we 


’ 


31 


are engaged, is great and good. It isthe cause of God. For 
its promotion, Emanuel’s blood was shed—infinite love and 
power are engaged. The most glorious success, in connexion 
with human co-operation, is certain. Let the Sanballats and 
Tobiahs of this age of reason, point the finger of scorn at our 
enterprize ; let the scoffing skeptic say, ‘‘ where is the promise 
of his coming ?” where are the glorious things ‘‘ spoken of the 
city of God ?” Let the wise and prudent of this world labour to 
damp the ardour of our zeal, with their chilling doubts, or with 
the sneers of incredulity—In God we trust. None of these 
things should move us, or shake our confidence, or slacken our 
pursuit. If God be for us, who can be against us, to frustrate 
our designs? The counsel of Jehovah shall stand. He will 
assuredly do all his pleasure. The promise is made, nor can it 
fail of being fulfilled, that ‘the kingdom, and the greatness 
of the kingdom, and the dominion under the whole heaven, 
shall be given to the saints of the Most High;”’ and that “all 
flesh shall see the salvation of God.” How transporting the 
consideration! how glorious the prospect! But while we con- 
template it with emotions of devout joy and rejoicing, let us 
not be forgetful, that the fulfilment of divine promise re- 
specting “‘ the latter day glory,” is inseparably connected with 
the exertions and importunate prayers of the friends of Zion. 
May this consideration suitably impress our minds, excite our 
zeal, and influence our conduct. 

«¢ And now I beseech you brethren,” and friends of this re- 
spected audience, “suffer the word of exhortation.” In the 
possession and full enjoyment of the great and precious privi- 
leges and blessings of the gospel of Christ, must not your bo- 
soms feel a lively and painful sympathy, for your unhappy fel- 
low men, for your brethren according to the flesh, who are 
either wholly destitute, or who enjoy but a scanty pittance of 
these privileges and blessings ? 

Must not your hearts burn within you with ardent desire, 
that “their understandings might be opened to understand the 
scriptures,” and that they might become rich in faith, and heirs 
of the kingdom of glory! Must not your hearts expand with 
that noble charity, which ‘‘ seeketh not her own ;” which spurns 
at mercenary views and selfish solicitations, and which opens wide 
the hand to minister to the necessities of those, who lack the 
bread and water of life? Can any objects of charity, like these, 
excite your commiseration, interest your benevolent feelings, 


32 


| 
end claim your generous aid? Can you, christian friends, con- ‘ 
tempiate the situation of these your brethren and sisters, as d 
spiritually destitute, and with unfeeling indifference say, ‘‘be — 
ye warmed and filled,” forbearing to contribute those things, 
which are needful to this benevolent purpose ! Gratitude, com-— 
passion, religion! O sacred names, forbid it. $< 

What can be the object, so worthy of your zealous and un- 
interrupted pursuit, as that of raising those, who. are dead in 
trespasses and sins, to life and immortality, through the faith 
of the gospel ? What is the sacrifice you can make, so accepta~ 
ble and pleasing to the God of mercy, as “‘to do good and 
communicate,” for this merciful purpose? In what way, as in 
this, caa you so effectually secure to yourselves ‘durable rich- 
es,” incorruptible and unfading? In what way ean you with so 
much advantage, and to so good effect, shew yourselves men, _ 
patriots, Christians? In what way can you so effectually secure 
the approbation of your own minds, and the plaudit of God a 
your Saviour, as ‘by contributing, with readiness of mind and 
true benevolence of heart, to the furtherance of the gospel, and 
to the extension of the savour of the Redeemer’s name, and the 
victories of his cross ? 

Shall remind those of you, who are rich in this world’s 
goods, that, of the abundance with which Ged has entrusted 
you, as stewards for him, he requires not alittle? Shall 1 ad- 
monish those of you, who, possessing a ready mind, have it not 
im your power to cast much into the treasury, not to be forget- 
ful to communicate, as God has-prospered you? Sbali I sug- 
gest to the poor, if any of this description be present, that their 
contribution of two mites, will not be less acceptable, than the 
most liberal contributions of the affluent? Dear brethren! ac- 
cording to your “several ability,” will, we trust, be your of- 
ferings to the Lord. —— 

«‘The liberal soul deviseth liberal things, and by liberal 
things shall he stand.” ‘ There is that scattereth, and yet in- 
creaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, and 
it tendeth to poverty.” ‘‘ He which soweth sparingly, shall reap 
also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also 
bountifully.” «It is more blessed to give than to receive,” 
«« Every man,” then, ** according as he purposeth in his heart, 
so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loy- 
eth a cheerful giver.” i 


oa 


THE 


MISSIONARY ARGUMENT; 


A SERMON 


PREACHED, BY APPOINTMENT, 


BEFORE 
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS 


OF THE 


Bowestic ard Foreign Missionary Society 


OF THE 
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, IN THE U. S. OF AMERICA ; 
IN ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, 


ON TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 11, 1830. 


BY GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, A.M. 


ASSISTANT MINISTER OF TRINITY CHURCH, BOSTON. 


BOSTON: 
SAMUEL H. PARKER, 164 WASHINGTON-STREE’. 


MDCCCXxXx. 


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PRESS OF 


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PUTNAM & HUNT, 


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Tue present Sermon is no¢ printed by request. "The Board of 
Directors, at their Annual Meeting in 1829, resolved, that they 
would not, after that time, vote thanks for Sermons preached be- 
fore them, nor cause them to be printed. In the opinion of 
those, whose taste and judgment it would be arrogance to dis- 
trust, the following Discourse has seemed fit, by its publication, 
to serve the Society by whose appointment it was preached. It 
is, therefore, without hesitation, given, as the Author’s free-will 
offering—(would to God it were worth more!)—to the best and ” 
noblest of all causes, the cause of God and man, the cause of 
Curist1aN Missions. 


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: SERMON. 


ST. MARK, XVI,—15. 


GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY 
CREATURE. 


Tuis was the parting precept of the Saviour of mankind. 
He came into the world that all, even as many as should be- 
lieve in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. During 
all his painful sojourning on earth he proclaimed himself, in 
word and in deed, the light of the world. And he died, that he 
might be the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, 
but for the sins of the whole world. In perfect and entire con- 
sistency, then, with the original purpose of his incarnation, with 
the teaching and practice of his life, with the motive and ob- 
ject of his death, was the parting precept of the Saviour—Go 
YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY 
CREATURE! It was addressed originally to the Apostles ; and 
the same page which records it, records also their prompt, im- 
plicit, and persevering obedience—they went forth, and preach- 
ed every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming 
the word with signs following. Did they fulfil the Saviour’s 
precept? Was the Gospel preached by them fo every creature 2 
Alas, no! They were but mortal men. And though they gave 
themselves, body and spirit, to the work, they did but sow the 


6 


precious seed, before they were compelled, by cruel persecu- 
tion, to enrich it with their blood. The work which they be- 
gan, they entrusted to faithful men, with power to send others 
after them ; so that from their time until now the sacred line 
has never once been broken, nor the divine husbandry been in- 
terrupted, nor the vineyard of the Lord of hosts ceased to ex- 
tend to all valleys its gracious roots, and to spread over all hills 
its comfortable shadow, and to extend to nation after nation, and 
to kingdom after kingdom, its life-sustaining, life-restoring cup. 
Still, is the Saviour’s purpose yet accomplished? Has it yet gone 
into all the world? Is the Gospel yet preached to every crea- 
ture? Alas, no! There are myriads of human hearts that are 
fainting for the protection of its comfortable shadow. There 
are millions of immortal souls that are perishing for the refresh- 
ment of its cup of life. 

Way is IT so? 

OvucHT IT TO BE so? 

SHALL IT CONTINUE TO BE SO? 

Wuy 1s 1r so? Are the means which God has appointed for 
the extension of his kingdom inadequate to the result? Is his 
ear heavy, that it cannot hear ? Or his hand shortened, that wt 
cannot save? The supposition is alike injurious to his power 
and wisdom, his holiness and goodness. He has proclaimed the 
everlasting Gospel. He has founded the universal Church. The 
leaves of the one are given for the healing of the nations. The 
gates of the other are open to kingdoms, and tongues, and kin- 
dreds, and people. In her divinely instituted, and perpetuated 
ministry, the glorious vision of the Seer of the Apocalypse is 
realized—and I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, 
having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on 
the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and 
people, saying with a loud voice, fear God, and give glory to 
him ; for the hour of his judgment has come! In her divinely 
instituted and perpetuated sacraments, the gracious voice, that, 
on the Isle of Patmos, won his favoured ear, addresses all man- 
kind—the Spirit and the Bride say, come! and let hom that 


of 


| heareth, say to his neighbour, come! and let him that is athirst 
come! and whosoever will, let him take the water of life free- 
| ly! Why then, the question returns—why, since God has 
made provision so ample for the spiritual wants of all, his holy 
Church freely opened, his holy word freely offered, why is it 
that all are not participants of its precious privileges, subjects of 

its constraining love, heirs of its immortal hopes? The noble 
argument of the great first Missionary to the Gentiles will supply 
our answer. ‘True, he says, whosoever shall call on the name 
of the Lord shall be saved. For the same Lord over all, is rich 
unto all that call upon him, and there is no difference between 
the Jew and the Greek. But how shall they call on him in 
whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him 
of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without 
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent 2 
Alas! brethren, that it should be so—but so it is—the lapse of 
nearly two thousand years has abated scarce a single jot from 
this unanswerable apostolic reasoning for the claims of Missions. 
There are yet whole nations, and I had almost said whole con- 
tinents, of them who call not upon God because they do not be- 
lieve on him, who believe not on him because they never heard 
of him, who camnot hear of him without a preacher, and who 
can have no preacher unless he shall be sent. And there are 
others, countless others, of our flesh and of our bone, who, 
though, in the pleasant land of their fathers they may have heard 
of God, and, even among the heathen who know him not, or 
the wicked who disregard him, do still believe in him and fear 
him, are losing, as the rainbow fades, the impressions which 
even we, with all our means of grace, so faintly and so feebly 
hold, and, far from home, and all its holy and delightful sympa- 
thies, are longing till their very heart is sick within them, for 
those sacred ministrations of comfort and of hope, which, with- 
out a preacher they cannot have, and-io whom no preacher can 
go unless he shall be sent. The subject, then, you see, my 
Christian brethren, is brought home to us—to you, and to me— 
and, when we ask, why it is that souls are perishing for lack of | 


8 


saving knowledge, it becomes us also to ask,—and that solemn- 
ly, and anxiously, as in the presence of Him who has declared, 
all souls are mine—are we doing what we can for their relief? 
Have we given according to the ability with which God has 
blessed us? Have we exerted, in the furtherance of his own 
cause, the ability and influence with which God has endowed 
us? Have we poured out upon it—this at least all of us can 
do, and God forbid that any of us should not !—have we poured 
out upon it, warm from the heart, our fondest and most fervent 
prayers? If it be not so, if for Christ’s own cause, the cause in 
which he shed his precious blood, the Christian’s wealth, the 
Christian’s efforts, the Christian’s prayers are stinted, there 
needs, assuredly, no further question why it does not triumph, 
to God’s glory, and the good of men. 

But we ask, secondly, oveut 1r ro BE so? Is there any 
thing that can excuse the believer for being a laggard in his Mas- 
ter’s service? Let us speak plainly out !—the occasion calls for 
plainness—is it possible that he can be sincere in his profession 
of the Christian faith, who hesitates to promote, to the utmost of 
his ability, remembering that to God the heart is as open as the 
hand, the extension of its privileges and blessings to all who 
have them not at all, or who have them in inferior measure to 
himself? We answer boldly, no! And we rest our answer on 
the warrant of God’s word—he that loveth not his brother whom 
he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And, 
again, whoso hath this world’s goods, and seeth his brother have 
need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how dwelleth 
the love of God in him ?—For consider, I beseech you, breth- 
ren, the worth, as God himself has rated it, even of a single soul ; 
—what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and 
lose his own soul 2—Consider, next, the state of all souls by 
aature ;—we have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God. 
When we have done all, we are unprofitable servants. There rs 
none that doeth good, no, not one !— Consider, then, the sure 
punishment of sin ;—the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Indigna- 
tion and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man 


9 


that doeth evil !—Take then into consideration the price at 
which all souls were ransomed ;—God so loved the world, that 
he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, 
should not perish, but have everlasting life—who bare our sins in 
his own body on the tree—and, by the grace of God, tasted death 
for every man !—Consider, lastly, the conditions of the law of 
Gospel love ;—thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Look not 
every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of 
others—for no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to him- 
self. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of 
Christ. For we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every 
one members one of another! Consider well, my brethren, this 
affecting exhibition of true Christian fellowship, as a relation so 
intimate that the vitality of its union can only be expressed by 
representing Jesus as the head, the Church as his body, and in- 
dividual Christians as members in particular, one in feeling and 
interest, one in joy and grief, one in fears and hopes ; and then 
say, if the love of Christ should not—nay, if, where it exists in 
purity and power, it certainly will not—constrain all who breathe 
and feel it, to the same anxiety, the same exertions, the same 
intense, unsparing, and agonizing devotion for the salvation of 
other souls as of their own! Say, finally, if that man who has 
neglected any effort, spared of his perishable treasure, or remit- 
ted in his effectual, fervent intercession for the souls of all man- 
kind, and much more of those who fall within the sphere of his 
immediate influence, can justly entertain the slightest hope of 
acceptance with Him, who has declared that he will judge all 
men according as they have judged, and by that strict, yet equita- 
ble, rule, of doing unto others as they would have others do to 
them !* 

Having seen clearly why it is that the extension of the Sa- 
viour’s kingdom upon earth has been, and is, so slow ; and that, 
by every principle of Christian duty and of Christian charity, it 
ought not so to be, we are prepared for our third question— 
SHALL IT CONTINUE TOBE so? That the march of our religion 


*See notel. 


» eo 


10 


shall go on, that the triumphs of Christianity shall continue and 
increase in glory, that the kingdom of the Saviour shall not be 
stayed, as it were, in mid-air, but shall come down to earth, and 
spread its peaceful sway from the one end of it to the other, 
filling it all with the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea, 
enabling all to know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, and 
pouring into all hearts the blessing of peace, quietness and assur- 
ance forever, is among the clearest convictions to which the 
word of God gives warrant. God’s work, then, will go on. 
His cause will prosper. Christianity will triumph. And our 
question is thus narrowed down to this—shall his work be done 
by us? Shall his cause prosper in our hands? Shall we share 
in the triumphs and partake the glories of the cross ? Or, lag- 
gards in our exertions, and niggards of our bounty, in the day of 
trial and of toil, shall we be rejected in that day when the 
spoils of victory shall be divided, and its glorious golden crowns 
bestowed ? For, brethren, understand me well. I come not 
here to summon you to duties, which, with unwilling hand, you 
may, upon compulsion, do. I come not here to call on you for 
sacrifices, which, with reluctant heart, you may surrender by 
constraint. But, no! I come to lead your free and fervent 
spirits to the most glorious and inviting enterprize of which mor 

tals ever were allowed to hear; to give you the offer of privi- 
leges which no price can estimate, and of rewards which will 
endure forever ; to ask you but to turn the light of that blessed 
Gospel, which cheers and guides your way, towards the groping 
multitudes that wander on in darkness, and the shadow of the 
grave, and to tell you that God has declared, that they who 
thus turn sinners to righteousness, shall shine as the brightness of 
the firmament, and as the stars forever and forever. And, though 
I repeat it, that Jesus Christ will have nothing of you in this be- 
half as matter of mere necessity and duty, nothing which is not 
won from you by the soft persuasion of your constraining love 
of him, nothing that is not done by you for his sake and for the 
love of souls ; and that all that is so given and done will be ac- 
knowledged and rewarded as given and done to him, inasmuch 


11 


as ye did it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye did it unto 
me ;—I am also bound to add, that he will frown in his indig- 
nant anger, and repel from him forever, all those, who, disre- 
garding the cry of the poor, darkened, souls for whom he died, 
shall in effect despise his cross, and disregard the offering of his 
blood—verily Isay unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not unto one 
of the least of these, my brethren, ye did it not unto me. And 
these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the right- 
eous into life eternal. 

My Christian brethren, in coming before you to-night as the 
advocate of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of 
the Church, I am well aware that with some—of you we are 
persuaded better things—the office is unhonoured, and the er- 
rand thankless ;—that, to the infidel, the whole Missionary 
scheme is odious ;—and that there are even Christians who will 
abate somewhat from their estimate of his discretion and intelli- 
gence, who bears and owns a love and zeal for Missions. But 
I remember, and am not discouraged, that the cross of Jesus 
was to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolish- 
ness. remember, and am not discouraged, that Paul, for his 
Christian earnestness and boldness, was accounted mad. And 
that with the heathen of the first ages of the Church, it was a 
current taunt, “a very good man that, only he is a Christian !”’* 
Now, from the infidel, these things are reasonably to be expect- 
ed. He has declared war against Christianity, and he is, of 
course, opposed to all that is part and parcel of it; and with a 
degree of violence exactly in proportion to its intrinsic excel- 
lence, and its importance to the cause. But, when the reproach 
is heard from Christian lips, is it from ignorance—an ignor- 
ance, how needless and unpardonable !—or is it from entire and 
utter selfishness, hardening the heart, till it can seek to save of 
the perishable dross of earth, even at the price of other souls, 


*Stillingfleet, in his Origines Sacre, Book ii. Chap. 9, speaking of the early 
converts, says : “‘ Their greatest enemies were often forced to say, that their only 


fault was, that they were Christians.—Bonus vir Cajus Sejus, tantum quod 
Christianus.”” 


12 


and of its own? For, brethren, what is the meaning of this 
mystic and misrepresented term ? What is a Mission? What 
is a Missionary ? . What is the Missionary enterprize ?—Was 
not the Son of God the great first Missionary, from the bosom of © 
his Father, to our fallen race ? Is not the world one great, dark, 
devious Missionary field? Were not the holy eity, the hill of 
Calvary, the mountain Olivet, the earliest Missionary stations ? 
Are not the ministers of Jesus Missionaries all? And is not 
our religion all a Mission—a message, so denominated by the 
angels, of glad tidings to all people—a mission sent from 
heaven, the endearing proof of God’s paternal love—a mission 
sent to men, his erring children, to guide their feet here in the 
way of peace, and lead them through the darkness of the grave 
to happiness in heaven ?>—And is the Missionary enterprize, 
then, an idle undertaking? Is the name of Missionary a dis- 
honourable name? Is it a reproach to be the friend, the advo- 
cate, the humblest of the servants of Missions >—Then welcome 
dishonour, if it be incurred in Jesus’ cause ! Welcome reproach, 
if it be shared with Luke and Barnabas and Paul! God forbid 
that we should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ! 
God forbid that we should count labour unwelcome, or reproach 
opprobrious, or our life itself dear unto us, so we may but pro- 
claim to sinners, poor and needy, the unsearchable riches of 
the Gospel of Christ! 

It ought not to be withheld that eke is, by those who dis- 
countenance the cause of Missions—strange indeed that in a 
Christian land there should be any such !—some show of seem- 
ing argument. For, say they, if the heathen have not the Gos- 
pel, or if some Christians live less in the light of it than oth- 
ers, then they have less to answer for; since a God of justice 
and of mercy will never judge them by a rule of which they 
could not know. We account as highly as they can of the 
justice and of the goodness of God. We believe, and we 
tremble to believe it, that the rule of His judgment will strictly 
be, of him to whom much is given much will be required. We 


13 


doubt not that in every nation he who feareth God and worketh 
righteousness will be accepted with Him. But we repeat with 
emphasis the searching and decisive question which has been 
often asked before, where, in a heathen nation, is he found 
who feareth God and worketh righteousness? We ask, if, in 
our high, meridian, Gospel-day, there is too much light upon 
the path of duty, or the bed of death? And we ask, if, with 
all the advantages and consolations which he enjoys, the Chris- 
tian scarcely be saved, how shall the poor heathen, or the half 
enlightened convert, or the forest exile from his father’s home 
and house of prayer, prepare to meet his God? But the ar- 
gument proves too much, and so proves nothing. It might with 
as much reason be contended that the whole world needed not 
the Gospel—that God has sent his Son to die for men who 
might have been saved as well without the sacrifice—and that 
the Holy Spirit poured out from heaven to sanctify the faith- 
ful is poured out all to waste. My brethren, itis notso. The 
heathen, bowing down to wood and stone, are perishing: for 
lack of knowledge. Our brethren, pioneers of civilization and 
of the Church, are languishing in sorrow. for the want of 
spiritual light and spiritual consolation. Even in the midst of 
us, the poor are famishing for the bread, and thirsting for the 
~ water, of life. 

Now surely, brethren, if these things are so, and if they are 
of concern to us, they are of urgent concern, they press for 
our immediate attention, there is no time to be lost. While 
we are thinking, or, perhaps, not thinking, of the matter, thou- 
sands of heathens are going down to the grave, without a ray of 
hope to light its passage ; while others, who, in better days have 
known and valued the consolations of religion, are falling from 
their hold upon its precious truths, and fainting and dying, 
alone and unconsoled. And besides, brethren, let it not be 
forgotten, our own time is short. While we have opportunity, 
then, let us do good. What we do we must do quickly, for 


14 


there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the 
grave, to which we hasten. 

In the plea which I have thus sought to urge before you in be- 
half of Missions, I have not recognized any distinction of for~ 
eign or domestic operations. Why should I? Is not the field, 
THE worLD? Let every man choose his portion of it to reap 
for the Lord’s garner. Only let all choose some. Whatever 
is done, is done for God’s glory, and the good of souls. Done 
with a single eye to. those great ends, God will accept it and 
bless it with increase. The Society which claims our prayers 
wisely and happily combines in one the foreign and the domes- 
tic interest.* God forbid that they should ever be divided! 
God forbid that where his blessed Son made no distinction, we 
should think it needful! He died alike for all the souls of 
men. God forbid that our bounty, our labours, our intercessions 
should not also comprehend them all! Individual designation, 

“and the force of circumstances, may give to the one object or 
to the other occasional predominance. But the constraining 
love of Jesus is the motive which prompts alike to both, and 
both look but to a common end, the salvation of sinners for 
whom Jesus died. With “ ample room, and verge enough ” in 
each direction, to engage us all, let us give to each its full pro- 
portion of our best and most disinterested zeal. Ages must 
pass, even were the whole strength of Christendom brought 
out, before the fulness of the Gentiles can come in. Genera- 
tions must be numbered before the Church, in her best human 
enterprize, can overtake, with her Master’s holy word and ordi- 
nances, the rapid march of civilization towards the ocean of 
the west. 

Meanwhile, what are we, Protestant Episcopalians, doing in 
this great cause of God and man? What regions of the dark 
Pagan world have we undertaken to enlighten? What portion 
of our own vast wilderness have we pledged ourselves to re- 
claim? On what part of the dreary African coast are our Mis- 
sionary stations set as light-bearers to the degraded Ethiopian ? 


* See note 11. + See note 111. 


15 


Where, in the barren wastes of Asia, or in our own magnificent 
and verdant woods,* is the voice of our Missionary heard speak- 
ing peace to the sorrowing, and pardon to the sinful soul? 
What is the number of societies to spread the Gospel to all who 
have it not, that, like a constellation, gladden with their concen- 
trated glory all our land? And by what sums, in thousands 
and in tens of thousands, is their income told ?—Had these ques- 
tions been asked twelve months ago, I must have hung my 
head to answer them. I must have told you that im all the 
world, Christian or heathen, there was not an effort making that 
deserved the name, which had its origin with us ; and must have 
been compelled to the confession, full of sorrow and of shame, 
that the average annual income of the only institution in the 
whole American church for general Missionary purposes, had 
been, in the last nine years, but fifteen hundred dollars! But, 
blessed be the name of God, a day of better things has dawn- 
ed! The favour of the Holy One has crowned with signal mer- 
cy the exertions which his own gracious Spirit has put it into 
the hearts of the faithful servants of his Church to make. The 
adoption of a plan, not more to be admired for its beautiful 
simplicity, than for its comprehensiveness and power, has breath- 
ed into the seat of central life a new vitality, and sent to every 
limb, and member, and organ of the whole frame a more in- 
tense, concentrated and vigorous action.¢ There is the begin- 
ning of an organization made, which soon, we fondly trust, will 
be commensurate with our whole communion ; and like the 
circumambient air, while, by its moderate and equal pressure, 
it is nowhere felt, shall stimulate to healthful.and enduring ener- 
gy the universal system, even in its minutest portions. The re- 
proach is wiped away—thank God! the reproach is wiped 
away—that Protestant Episcopalians are indifferent to the ex- 
tension of the blessings of the Gospel ;—I do not say to their 
brethren and immediate neighbours alone,—but to any, to all, 
who have them not. The spirit of Missions has gone abroad. 


* See note ty. t See note v. 


16 


We mark its first, we frankly own its faintest symptom in the 
replenishing treasury of the Lord. I say its faintest symptom. 
For needful as the gold is and the silver to the preaching of the 
priceless Gospel, these are not the ends to which we look, nor 
the results for which we labour, nor the blessings for which we 
pray. No!—there are treasures far more rare, far more pre- 
cious, far more desirable. The heart, filled with the love of 
God and man, prompting the gift, the act, the prayer, of char- 
ity—this is the choicest jewel, out of the mediatorial diadem of 
Jesus. The spirit of Missions, the spirit of celestial, of evan- 
gelical love, the flame enkindled by the Holy Ghost, the Sanc- 
tifier—this is the ray by which, as gold is ripened in the mine, 
such hearts are formed. Give it free course, then, brethren, that 
it may be fully glorified! Prompt it by wish, and word, and 
act. Seekits promotion by the kindling breath of fervent pray- 
er, till it fill all hearts, and burn in every soul. It will pour 
you out treasures freely as the water is poured out from 
heaven. It will do more than this. It will pour you out HEARTS 
—hearts like the martyr Stephen’s, filled full with faith and with 
the Holy Ghost, to labour in the work of saving souls, to bear 
every where the word and bread of life, to live and die, true 
Christian soldiers, beneath the banner of the Cross. 

My Christian brethren, the spirit of Missions is the spirit of 
our religion—emphatically it is the spirit of our Church. It 
fired the Apostles’ hearts at first to plant it. It ever since has 
fired the hearts of their successors to tend and water it. It 
has been kept like a pure vestal flame upon the altars of the 
Church of England. It sent her Middleton and Heber to India. 
It has carried her evangelists and teachers wherever the foot 
of man has trod. It brought to the land which we inherit, and 
inhabit, the faith and worship in which our souls rejoice. Friends, 
brethren, and fathers, shall we not acknowledge, shall we not 
repay the pious debt? Shall we not transmit to others, and 
still to others, even to generations unnumbered and unborn, the 
rich inheritance which we enjoy? Let us arise, then, in the 
strength and name of God, and gird ourselves, like men, for 


Bah 


the performance of this most glorious, this most charitable 
work! The experience of the year just closed demonstrates 
that there is not wanting the ability, nor yet the inclination to 
discharge it. Itis knowledge that we need—it is system—it 
is union, and purpose, and untiring perseverance in action. The 
plan before us offersthem. Its success, thus far, gives pledge 
and promise of its future efficacy. Let us accept, let us pursue, 
the glorious, the auspicious omen. For Zion’s sake Ict us not 
hold our peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake let us not rest, until the 
righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation 
thereof asa lamp that burneth! Above all, brethren and fa- - 
thers, let us pour out before the Giver of increase our fervent 
and untiring prayers, that he would be pleased to make his 
ways known unto all men, his saving health to all nations ;* 
—that the light of his glorious Gospel may shine unto all 
lands, and that, “all who receive it may live as becomes 
it ;’*—that He would “ have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infi- 
dels, and heretics,* and take from them all ignorance, hardness 
of heart, and contempt of his word, and so fetch them home 
to his flock, that they,” and we, “‘ may be saved with the rem- 
nant of the true Israelites, and made one fold under” the 
“one” great “Shepherd, Jesus Curist our Lorp!” 


* See note vi. 


co 


NOTES. 


It is chiefly in reference to this paragraph, that the Discourse 
has been entitled “The Missionary Argument.” Not from any 
arrogant presumption that other and abler arguments may not 
be offered—but because the chain of reasoning here drawn out, 
wholly from Scriptural premises, appears to the Author’s mind 
inevitable in its conclusions. To him it seems, that the Mission- 
ary spirit—the love of God and of man, brought to its highest 
and holiest exertion in the saving of the souls for which his Son 
was crucified, is either the unerring test, the experimentum crucis, 
of the true Christian character, or isan empty nothing. The 
mode in which this spirit shall exert itself he undertakes not to 
prescribe. Excellent Christians he believes there are to whom 
modern abuses have rendered Missions, and especially foreign 
Missions, absolutely odious—who have liberally promoted the 
cause itself, even while they proscribed thename. From all such, 
he only asks a candid and dispassionate consideration of the 
Scriptural Missionary argument ; not doubting that their inference 
will be with his ;—if the love of man be the best evidence of the 
power of religion, then the love—earnest, ardent, active in its 
salvation—of man’s noblest, his immortal, part, must be the 
highest and surest exhibition of that best evidence. 


II. 


In the dark days of the Society—thank God, we can now begin 
to speak of them as past !—there were some, and they among 
the most excellent of its friends, who were earnest that it should 
be divided into two separate institutions, acting respectively for 
foreign and domestic purposes. In the author’s judgment, then, 
and time has confirmed it, such an arrangement would have been 
most disastrous for the Church. To the wisdom and moderation 
which animated and pervaded the proceedings of the Board in 
the revision of the Constitution, are due, under God, the hopes 
that now inspire us of the Society’s prosperity and usefulness. 


20 


III. 


For details most convincing and interesting as to the growing 
wants of the West, the Report of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Brownell’s 
Tour through the valley of the Mississippi, and his very luminous 
and eloquent sermon, preached in Trinity Church, and in St. 
Paul’s Church, Boston, may confidently be referred to. Both of 
them should be in the hands of every Churchman, and of every 
Christian. Let it be in all our prayers, that the Bishop’s truly 
Apostolic visitation may be, to the spiritual darkness of the Church- 
men of the West, as THE DAy-sTAR arising in their hearts! 


IV. 


Within the period here alluded to, the Society’s Mission among 
the western Indians, at Green Bay, and parts adjacent, has as- 
sumed a most interesting aspect. ‘To this benevolent work the 
Rev. Richard Cadle, after laying strongly and well the foundations 
of the Church at Detroit, has, with the true evangelical spirit, 
generously devoted himself. Long years have passed since the 
Author took sweet counsel with him, and we walked together in 
the house of God as friends—and now, almost a continent of woods 
and waves rises and rolls between us! Wherever he may be, 
there will be found no purer patriot, no more generous philanthro- 
pist, no humbler Christian, no sounder Churchman, no more de- 
voted minister of Christ. Vivat, valeatque ! 


V. 


The plan alluded to was recommended last winter in a circu- 
lar, signed by the Secretary of the Society, then the Rev. Edward 
Rutledge. It proposes, as its leading features, that there be 
formed, by voluntary agencies, in each one of all the parishes of 
our Church in the United States, an association for procuring 
funds for the Society—that every member of every parish be 
called on to unite himself to it by the contribution of such sum, 
however small, ashe may choose—that the associations in each di- 
ocese be united, for purposes of local convenience, into an Aux- 
inary Sociery—that thus, by channels as numerous as there are 
parishes, the bounty of the whole Church may be turned steadily 
and permanently into the Missionary treasury. By leaving in- 
definite the sum constituting membership, it invites all to give, 
according to their ability. By its encouragement of small contri- 
butions, it gives promise of permanent efficiency. By allowing to 
every contributor the privilege of designating to what purpose — 
his contribution shall be applied, it obviates all prejudice against 


Qi 


the foreign or the domestic operation. By the comprehensiveness 
of its extent, it ensures, from the aggregation of atoms, a mass 
of great and glorious results. The voluntary agencies, too, by 
which the Associations are to be established, not only relieve the 
Society of the expense, but separate from the cause the prejudice 
resulting from the appointment and maintenance of a General 
Agent. Parochial Clergymen, acting in their own parishes, and 
in the sphere of their immediate neighbourhoods, will ever be found 
the Society’s best agents. Considerable progress has already 
been made in the application of this system. There will be es- 
tablished, it is hoped, in every parish in Massachusetts, (the great- 
er portion having been already visited with success,) an active 
institution, before this Discourse is published— and a State Auxil- 
lary will be organized, it is presumed, at the Convention, to be 
held in Boston, in the month of June. 


VI. 


See, for these quotations, the Anthem “ Deus Misereatur,” 
appointed to be sung or said after the second lesson in the daily 
evening service—the form of Evening Prayer appointed to be 
used in Families—and the third Collect for Good Friday. Who 
that observes, in her stated and daily services, these solemn re- 
cognitions of Christian duty, will deny that the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church well retains her Apostolic character, as a Missionary 
Cuurcn? Which among her members will be slow in following 
the spirit of these prayers, which, for century after century, she 
has never ceased to use? And yet, there are those that call 
themselves Churchmen, and speak of Missions as ‘‘an innova- 
tion.” There are those that profess themselves Christians, and 
yet sneer at them who would but imitate their Saviour, in seeking 
that whichis lost !—But on this subject, as, indeed, on every other, 
a single practical argument is worth a thousand of mere theory. 
In the self-devoted life of Heber—clarum et venerabile nomen—such 
an argument is afforded. That such a man—as ascholar, the de- 
light and pride of his country’s literature ; in family, fortune, and 
manners “ the observed of all observers ;” and, as a Christian min- 
ister, filling up the measure of human happiness in the pastoral 
shades of his “ dear, dear Hodnet,’’—should have left all for the la- 
bour, responsibility, disease, and early death, so certainly the ac- 
companiments of the Indian episcopate, were, to all who knew not 
the deep Christian love that possessed and pervaded all his heart, 
marvels not to be accounted for. ‘T'hat within eight days of his ever 
to be lamented death, he should deliberately declare, in the midst 
of his most anxious and laborious duties, his more than satisfaction 
with his lot, is testimony of inestimable value to the cause in which 
he died. Apology cannot be needed for the insertion of the passa- 
ges which follow, from an English publication just received, entitled 


ie: 


22 


f 


the ‘‘ Last Days of Bishop Heber ;” and possessing intrinsic in- 
terest and merits far surpassing the expectation which even that 
charmed name is fitted to awaken. 

“In the evening (of Easter day, March 26—he had preached 
in English, and administered the communion, at the Mission 
Church in the Fort, at Tanjore, in the morning—) the Bishop at- 
tended a Tamul service in the same Church, which was literally 
crowded with the native Christians of Tanjore, and the surround- 
ing villages, many of whom had come from a considerable dis- 
tance to be present on this occasion. Mr. Barenbruck, assisted 
by anative Priest, read the prayers, Dr. Cammerer from Tranque- 
bar preached, and the Bishop delivered the blessing in Tamul 
from the altar. I desired one of the native Priests to ascer- 
tain how many were present, and I found they exceeded thirteen 
hundred. J have seen no congregation in Europe by whom the 
responses of the liturgy are more generally and correctly made, or 
where thie Psalmody is more devotional and correct. The effect 
was more than electric: it was a deep and thrilling interest, 
in which memory, and hope, and joy, mingled with the devo- 
tion of the hour, to hear so many voices but lately rescued from 
the polluting services of the Pagoda, joining in the pure and 
heavenly music of the Easter Hymn, and the 100th Psalm, and 
uttering the loud Amen at the close of every prayer. For the 
last ten years I have longed to witness a scene like this, but the 
reality exceeds my expectations. I wished that some of those (if 
any of that small number still remain,) who deem all Mission- 
ary exertion, under any circumstances, a senseless chimera, and 
confound the humble and silent labours of these devoted men 
with the dreams of fanaticism, or the frauds of imposture, could 
have witnessed this sensible refutation of their cold and heart- 
less theories. The Bishop’s heart was full; and never shall I 
forget the energy of his manner, and the heavenly expression of 
his countenance, when he exclaimed, as I assisted him to take off 
his robes,—‘ Gladly would I exchange years of common life for 
one such day as this !’ 

Three days after this, March 29, after a day of laborious duty, 
the evening was spent with company at the house of Captain 
Fyfe, the Resident at Tanjore. ‘In the evening,” says the in- 
teresting Journalist, the Rev. Thomas Robinson, the Bishop’s 
Chaplain, and the companion of his last journey, “ we had some 
excellent music at the Residency, and the relaxation was as ne- 
cessary to him as it was delightful; he enjoyed it exceedingly, 
and was particularly struck with the performance of two Bramins, 
who accompanied Mrs. Fyfe in several difficult pieces, and after- 
wards played the overture in Sampson, at sight. But, in the midst 
of his evident enjoyment of this intellectual luxury, his thoughts 
were fixed on higher and nobler objects of culture ; and while all 
around him thought his ear only was employed, his heart was de- 
vising plans for the benefit of these neglected Missions, and 


23 


dwelling on the prospect of their success. He called me to an 
inner drawing room to communicate a suggestion that had just 
occurred to him, and which he desired me to carry into effect. 
We were standing by an open window, looking out upon the 
garden, over which the moon had just risen. I know not why I 
should tell you these trifling circumstances, but the scene with all 
its features will never be effaced from my recollection. It is fix- 
ed forever in my remembrance by the powerful spell of his noble 
and heavenly spirit, and the memorable sentiment with which our 
conversation closed. I expressed my fears that his strength would 
be exhausted by this unwearied attention to all the varieties of 
his great charge ; adding that I now understood the force of St. 
Paul’s climax—‘“ that which cometh upon me daily, the care of 
all the churches.” ‘‘ Yes,” he exclaimed with an energy worthy 
of the Apostle himself—‘ but that which overwhelmed him was 
his crown and glory!” 

On the first of April the Bishop went to Trichinopoly—on the 
second preached at St. John’s Church, and confirmed forty-two of 
the English Congregation there—at 6 o’clock on the morning 
of the third confirmed eleven of the native congregation in the 
Mission Church at the Fort, and pronounced the blessing in Ta- 
mul. “After divine service he visited the English and Tamul 
schools, and the Mission house, and seeing a greater part of the 
native Christians collected round him while he stood on the steps 
leading to the house, he addressed them, with his characteristic 

“energy and kindness—exhorting them to be Christians, not in 
name only, but in truth, and to have their conversation honest 
among the heathen that surrounded them.” Before the mor- 
ning was past, his pure Christian spirit had gone to its native 
skies !—One beautiful and most befitting circumstance more, 
and we shall tear ourselves from this touching memorial. “ Our 
conversation is afternoon,” says Mr. -R., speaking of the day 
before the Bishop’s decease, “‘ turned chiefly on the blessedness 
of heaven, and the best means of preparing for its enjoyment. 
He repeated several lines of an old hymn, which he said, in spite 
of one or two expressions which familiar and injudicious use had 
tended to vulgarize, he admired as one of the most beautiful in 
our language, for a rich and elevated tone of devotional feeling. 

‘ Head of the Church, triumphant ! 
‘We joyfully adore thee,’ &c. 

In the family prayers this evening, after we returned from 
Church, he particularly mentioned our friend, Dr. Hyne, (whom 
he had left sick at Tanjore) to whom he had promised at parting, 
that he would then always remember him.” 

The Author cannot but account it a favourable circumstance 
that he is enabled to give illustrations so happy of the nature and 
influences of that spirit of Missions which he has sought to de- 
scribe and to inculcate. In the sainted Heber it had become a 
concentrating and absorbing spirit—the flame divine with which 


24 


his soul was all on fire, and on whose fervent breath it was exhaled 
to heaven. : “‘ He delighted to consider himself as THE CHIEF MIS- 
stonary oF INnp1A, a character implied, in his judgment, in the 
Episcopal office itself ;—and while he felt it to be his bounden du- 
ty to confine his pecuniary aid and direct influence to the estab- 
lishments of that Church, whose orders and ministry he received 
as apostolical, yet most sincerely did he rejoice in the success- 
fal labours of all Christian societies, of whatever denomination, in 
the field of India; for he felt that while marshalled against a com- 
mon enemy, there should be none other than a generous rivalry 
and a brotherly emulation between our separated hosts—and that 
even then the fortune of the field is best secured, if each army 
keeps its own ranks unbroken, and its discipline inviolate.” 


«Tur LAsT pAys or BisHoP Huser,” p. 234. 


<*PrRAIsSE! FOR YET ONE MORE NAME WITH POWER’ ENDOWED, 
‘© To CHEER AND GUIDE US, ONWARD AS WE PRESS 5 
«‘© Yer oNE MORE IMAGE, ON THE HEART BESTOWED 
«¢To DWELL THERE, BEAUTIFUL IN HOLINESS ! 
‘* Tuine, HEBER, rHINE! WHOSE MEMORY FROM fHE DEAD; 
«<SHinrs AS THE STAR WHICH TO THE SAVIOUR LED.”” 


eeteomntes + 


REV. DR. STORRS’S SERMON 


BEFORE THE 


7 AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR fF 


FOREIGN MISSIONS, 


PREACHED AT OSWEGO, NEW YORK, SEPT. 10, 1850. 


NE 


ALWAYS ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD. 


SERMON, 


PREAOHED AT OSWEGO, NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 10, 1850, 
AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 
FOREIGN MISSIONS, 


FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 


BY RICHARD §S. STORRS, D. D., 


BRAINTREE, MS. 
> 


BOSTON: 
PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN, 24 CONGRESS STREET. 
1850. : 


SERMON. 


No apology, I am sure, will be required, for the 
selection of the words which closed so appropriately 
and eloquently, the able discourse delivered at your 
last annual convocation, as the theme of our present 
meditations ; they are recorded in 


1 CORINTHIANS, xv. 58. 

THEREFORE, MY BELOVED BRETHREN, BE YE STEADFAST, UNMOVEABLE, ALWAYS 
ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD, FORASMtcH AS YE KNOW THAT 
YOUR LABOR IS NOT IN VAIN IN THE LORD. 

Tue eye of the Apostle is directed to the future 
resurrection of the righteous. Rapt in wonder and 
joy im contemplation of the grace that gives victory 
to the believer over death and hell, and filled with 
grateful emotion in view of so signal a triumph, he 
is unable to repress the awakened sensibilities, 
which burst forth in this strong language, at once 
admonishing to faithfulness in duty, and supplying 
encouragement the most animating and ample. 

We indeed look not onward, at this hour, to the 
fmal resurrection of the dead, at the sounding of 
the archangel’s trump, so much as to the interven- 


A, 


‘ 


ing moral resurrection of the nations to new. life 
and activity in the service of God—a resurrection 
to be effected by humbler instrumentalities, and 
with far less observation, than those by which the 
great designs of mercy and of wrath toward this 
fallen race shall be consummated; both of these 
resurrections, however, are inseparably connected in 
the mighty chain of divine purposes circling earth 
and heaven, binding God to man and man to God, 
for the brightest display of the Ineffable Glory. 
We take no part in the recovery of the world to 
Christ, that bears not directly on the manifestations 
of eternal wisdom, holiness and love, in ‘that great 
day for which all other days are made ;” not a sav- 
age of our Western wilds, nor a Hottentot or Hin- 
doo of distant lands, shall be brought to the knowl- 
edge of the truth, without adding to the joyfulness 
of the hour when death shall be swallowed up in 
victory. ? 

The words before us "suggest three distinct but 
closely connected topics, deserving our considera- 
tion. 

I. The duty of the church to be “ always abound- 
ing in the work of the Lord.” 

II. The difficulties to be met, and only overcome 
by perseverance in this work—“ be ye steadfast and 
unmoveable.” 

III. The promised reward—“ your labor shall not 
be in vain in the Lord.” 


I. The duty of the church—to be prise 
abounding in the work of the Lord.” 


5 


1. The nature of the work demands it. 

To reconcile man to God, through the enlighten- 
ment of his mind and the renovation of his heart, 
though more than can be accomplished “ by might 
or by power,” is the work committed to human 
hands, moved and guided by the Holy One. No 
audible voice from heaven calls forth the man dead 
in trespasses and sins to spiritual life and action, 
nor does the lone arm of Omnipotence raise him 
from the depths into which he has fallen, and “ put 
him among the children;” but the voice of his 
fellow man arrests and instructs him, and the hand 
of his brother gently leads him from the precipice 
overhanging the world of death, and conducts him 
to Jesus’ feet. Feeble instrumentality this, it is 
admitted ;—but, ordained of heaven, it is no less 
necessary to the soul’s salvation, than the energy of 
the wonder-working Spirit himself. 

And, the field of labor is broad. Man’s enmity 
to God is at once entire and universal. Its develop- 
ments indeed, are affected by circumstances of time, 
place, education and social condition; but whether 
it assume the robes of an angel of light, or the 
blood-dyed garments of the veteran warrior — 
whether it slay indiscriminately the children of 
Bethlehem, or repeat prayers on the house-top— 
whether it offer superstitious devotions at Jerusalem 
or Mecca, at Rome or Benares, or exonerate itself 
of every religious obligation, its vital character is 
still the same; it is determined and proud rebel- 
lion against the authority of the Most High— 
claiming that 


6 


“« All is not lost; the unconquerable will, 
And study of revenge, immortal hate, 
And courage never to submit or yield 
And what is else not to be overcome; 
That glory, never shall his wrath or might 
Extort from me.” 


The world is cursed by Satan’s rule, and lieth in 
wickedness. As is the master, so is the servant. 
The whole creation groaneth, and travaileth in pain 
together until now; nor will it be delivered from 
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty 
of the sons of God, till the church shall more and 
more abound in the work of the Lord. 

2. God’s purpose in the establishment of the 
church evinces it. 

The church has a name and constitution, ordi- 
nances and modes of worship, that determine by 
their simplicity and variety the great end of her 
existence. God has formed her to reflect his image, 
vindicate his honor, extend his authority, and en- 
force his claims; and for this, he has clothed her 
with his own beauty, breathing into her a measure of 
his Spirit, and requiring of her an homage involving 
the cheerful sacrifice of all earthly good on the 
altars of truth and holiness. She is the pillar and 
ground of the truth, the salt of the earth, the light 
of the world.. She has one master, even Christ ; 
and to her are given the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven, that the souls of men may be loosed or 
bound, as her faithfulness or negligence shall 
decide. 

Not for the edification and comfort of members 
gathered into her bosom without efforts of her own, 


7 


and still less, for the accumulation of worthless honors 
and emoluments upon herself, has she been called 
ito being ; but that she may proclaim in every land 
Jehovah’s name, and summon all nations to the obedi- 
ence of the faith. By opening the eyes of the blind, 
unstopping the ears of the deaf, and causing the 
tongue of the dumb to sing, she is to become “ an 
eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.” 
Such was God’s beneficent purpose in her estab- 
lishment;—not that she might conceal the lively 
Oracles, and substitute for them ‘the traditions of 
men; not that she might fill the world with lying 
wonders, plant the gold-garnished cross upon the 
hill-top and surmount it with a crown of thorns; 
not that she might parade her armed battalions and 
pour forth vollies of thunder in honor of an idol ; 
not that she might invent new terms of salvation, 
and grant indulgences and remission of sins for the 
vain repetition of prayers and the payment of 
money; nor that she might decree arbitrary modes 
of worship, and compel men by menace and torture, 
or allure them by flattery and falsehood to adopt a 
humanly contrived system of faith and practice, vio- 
lative both of reason and revelation—but, that she 
might maintain “the law and testimony” in their 
integrity, explain and enforce their teachings, exem- 
plify their spirit and diffuse their life-giving influ- 
ence, instructing all men in the first principles and 
subordinate details of duty, by the energetic minis- 
tration of God’s word and ordinances, the mainte- 
nance of seminaries of science, the operations of 
the press, and whatever other instrumentalities bear 


8 


on them the imprimatur of Heaven. For these 
ends, and for these alone, was the church established 
by him who made the world and marshaled the 
hosts of heaven ; and for the same ends she is still 
sustained in her conflict with the powers of earth 
and hell. 

3. The commission given by Christ to the first 
disciples contemplates it. 

““Go ye therefore and teach all nations — all 
things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo! 
I am with you always, even to the end of the 
world.” Paramount is the authority that issues this 
command, plain the duty it enjoins, and full of 
grace the promise that attends it. ‘ Beautiful are 
the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, 
and bring glad tidings of good things; ” and while 
they bear witness to the truth—“ a mouth and wis- 
dom are given them, which all their adversaries are 
neither able to gainsay nor to resist.” 

But the work of the Apostles and their successors 
in office, turning men from darkness to light and 
from the power of Satan unto God, belongs equally 
to the entire body of the church in all generations. 
Christ’s ministers are but the heaven-appointed 
leaders of 


«The sacramental host of God’s elect ? — 


ordained heralds of the great salvation embodied in 
the visible church; nor are the labors and self- 
denials involved in the execution of this high com- 
mission more exclusively theirs, than are the honor 
and happiness of the promised results. The com- 


Se oe 


9 . 


mission is thrown into the hands and bound upon 
the conscience of every Christian, clothing him with 
authority, either personally or by substitution, to 
evangelize all nations, instructing him to be fervent 
in spirit, serving the Lord, making his light to shine 
widely as the world, that through his works of faith 
and labors of love, he may glorify his Father in 
heaven, and save his fellow men from everlasting 
death. The humblest believer, faithful to this high 
trust, will share the glories, as he shares the faith 
and sacrifices of the most eminent among God’s 
servants. 

4. The spirit of piety prompts it. 

Religion in its nature is communicative. “It is 
more blessed to give than to receive.” The peace 
and joy brought home to the individual, are only 
perfected when imparted to others. The new born 
child of grace cannot rest, till the full tide of his 
sanctified emotions has broken over every embank- 
ment and flowed freely into other bosoms; awaked 
to the long neglected glories of the spiritual world, 
he pants to make them known to as many as are 
still enveloped in darkness; and the first aspiration 
of his renovated spirit is, “ Lord! what wilt thou 
have me to do?” As the great revival of 1740 
gave birth to the concert of prayer for the conver- 
sion of the world, so that concert of prayer called 
up the question whether the active labors of the 
church could not be successfully combined for the 
same end; and the earnest consideration of this 
question led to the conviction, that duty demanded 


immediate and united effort; and this conviction 
2 


10 


resulted in the resolution on which we act to-day— 
to “ publish salvation to the ends of the earth, and 
say unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. » 

Whoever has first learned ‘ the exceeding sinful- 
ness of sin,” and the bitterness of its fruits, and 
then has participated in the spirit that would have 
all men to be saved, is constrained by every princi- 
ple of his regenerated nature, to abound more and 
more in labors of love for those. destined to an im- 
mortality of weal or wo, and now lying under con- 
demnation. A Christian, indifferent to the actual 
or prospective miseries of his fellow men, is a sole- 
cism in terms. ‘The eye that has been turned from 
earth to heaven, the heart that has leaped for joy at 
emancipation from sin’s thraldom, and has bathed 
itself in the light of heaven, can never regard in- 
differently the darkness and wo that hang over un- 
regenerated man in his various earthly conditions, 
but loving his neighbor as himself, and knowing the 
grace of the Lord Jesus, that ‘‘ though he was rich 
yet for our sakes he became poor, that we, through 
his poverty might be rich,” he will be ready to every 
sacrifice for the salvation of his “‘ neighbor,” though 
dwelling at the ends of the earth. “ Lord, save!” 
is the spontaneous cry of the renovated spirit, op- 
pressed like Paul with great heaviness, in view 
of the world’s woes; and then is the injunction 
cheerfully obeyed, ‘‘ Whatsoever thy hand findeth to 
do, do it with thy might.” 

5. The providence of God encourages it. 

Faith recognizes the movements of the wonder- 
working God in the progressive discoveries of the 


11 


past three hundred years, throwing open to the eye 
new continents, and isles of the sea before unknown, 
all thickly tenanted by undying man. The bold 
daring of Columbus and the Duke of Visco, the 
intrepidity of Vasco de Gama, Cooke, Drake, and 
others, who first made Christendom acquainted 
with America, and Africa, and the Eastern Archi- 
pelago, sprang from the counsels of the only wise 
God, as directly as the kingly spirit of the son of 
Kish, and the dauntless courage of Chaldea’s mon- 
arch. ‘Through long ages had darkness covered the 
earth, streaked only here and there with a ray of 
lurid light, struck up by the collision of religious 
fanaticism with the spirit of conquest and blood- 
thirstiness; and then, science had well nigh closed 
its eyes on the phenomena of nature; philosophy 
dozily dreamed within the precints of the monastery, 
of the arcana to be brought to light from the fields 
of intellect; and contentedly followed the beaten 
track of by-gone ages; and zeal for God and hu- 
man improvement slept quietly in the bosom of 
superstition—till suddenly, fire fell from heaven upon 
the castellated folly and ignorance of man’s heart, 
and the winds of heaven drove him forth 


“ From the castle height of indolence, and its false luxury,” 


into the broad area of a then unknown world, in 
pursuit of wealth and fame, under the banners of 
him, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all 
that is called God, but still under the invisible guid- 
ance of another, “in whom are hid all the treasures 
of wisdom and knowledge.” 


12 


And the same Providence now opens the ears of 
men, in nearly every quarter of the globe, to the 
message of salvation—whether through the extend- 
ing sway of Christian governments, or the widely 
diffused conviction of the intellectual and moral su- 
periority of evangelized nations, or the influence of 
prospective commercial gain, or the manifest useless- 
ness, and foreshadowed extinguishment of Pagan 
and Mohammedan religious systems, it matters not ; 
the fact is undeniable, and replete with encourage- 
ment. 

To the same Providence must be ascribed the 
spirit now abroad, which aims at the translation of 
the Scriptures into all languages, and their universal 
distribution ; the raising up of preachers of right- 
eousness from among the heathen, and that educa- 
tion of the masses of idolaters, which shakes their 
confidence in the false religions of their fathers, and 
constrains them to seek a better way for themselves 
and their little ones. Gratefully should we recog- 
nize the hand that has brought into action these 
fitting instrumentalities for effecting the purposes of 
God’s mercy toward the Pagan world. 

Nor can we overlook the same Providence that to 
some extent has already supplanted idolatry,—that 
has thrown to the winds wild and inveterate delu- 
sions,—that has annihilated cruel and disgusting cus- 
toms of long continuance,—that has here and there 
enlightened the dark mind, subdued the stubborn 
will, and caused the pouring of the heart’s best treas- 
ures into the bosom of Infinite Love. The Greek and 
the Armenian, the Papist and the Jew, the shivering 


13 


Greenlander, and the glowing West-Indian, the red 
man of America, and the Sandwich Islander, the 
servile Karen, and the fierce Malay, the ebon child 
of Africa, and the boasting denizen of the “ Celes- 
tial Empire,” have alike, in numbers few indeed, 
found their way to the feet of Jesus, giving us fair 
promise of the triumphs of grace in future but not 
far distant years. Hitherto, great things have been 
rarely expected, and still more rarely attempted ; 
but, even now, the evidence is clear, that before 
men call, God answers, and while they are yet 
speaking he hears, and is ready to follow with the 
demonstration of his Spirit, each hallowed effort 
that shall be put forth for the world’s conversion. I 
might add 

6. The promises of God assure it. 

These promises, however, will claim our attention 
more particularly hereafter, when we consider the 
reward of ‘abounding in the work of the Lord.” 

I proceed, therefore, to the second topic suggested 
by the text for our consideration, viz. 


Il. The difficulties to be met, and only overcome 
by perseverance in this work. 

That formidable difficulties lie in the way of duty 
is clearly implied in the injunction, “be steadfast, 
and unmoveable.”. This language is too simple to 
need exposition, and nothing can add to its force- 
fulness. Yet its purport will best be understood, 
and its earnestness justified to the mind that sympa- 
thizes with God, if we particularize some of these 
difficulties. 


14 


1. An obvious difficulty arises from the confessed 
obliquities of believers themselves. 

History and experience prove an unceasing con- 
flict between the law of the mind, and the law in 
the members. Sin stamps its gloomy features in 
various depth of shade on the Christian, impairing 
his strength, diminishing his courage, creating dis- 
trust of God, and cherishing a quiet apathy to hu- 
man wants and woes. Through its mighty force, 
earth’s fascinations blind the eye to the attractive- 
ness of God’s service ; the cares of life oppress, the 
deceitfulness of riches betrays, the pomps of the 
world beguile, and the misanthropy of the multitude 
disheartens him,—till he exclaims, ‘‘Q wretched 
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body 
of this death.” If his heart sometimes awakes, yet 
through physical infirmity his affections soon lan- 
guish; if holy resolutions are formed in his happier 
moments, yet the anxieties attendant on earthly re- 
lationships drive them back into forgetfulness; if 
sentiments of fraternal confidence are religiously 
cherished toward the faithful in Christ Jesus, yet 
they are often nullified by the suspicions and jeal- 
ousies engendered in the womb of denominational 
distinction ; if purposes of  self-consecration to 
Christ and the church are solemnly formed, yet they 
do not preclude prejudice and contention or insig- 
nificant questions of policy, as strong as that which 
arose between Paul and Barnabas. And surely, 
when the friends of Christ cease to pray and labor 
together, through the influence of discordant views 
on the subject of rites and ceremonies,—when they 


15 


tithe the mint, the annise, and the cummin, and 
neglect the cultivation of faith, hope and charity, 
the weightier matters of the law, they betray an 
obliquity of heart or judgment, which creates a for- 
midable difficulty to the progress of truth to its final 
triumph. And yet, the difficulty is of wide extent 
throughout the Christian world, prevailing propor- 
tionably as the elements of corruption within re- 
main unsubdued, and the love of ease, or thirst for 
accumulation, or aspirations for distinction, or pride 
of opinion, or obstinacy of prejudice, or narrowness 
of vision, triumph over the meek and self-denying 
spirit of Christ. 

2. Another difficulty presents itself, in the deep 
debasement of those, whose spiritual benefit is con- 
templated. 

Ignorant of God and his law, as well as of their 
own, and the moral character of the world,—content 
with mental inactivity, and indifferent to moral ele- 
vation,—untaught in the principles of science, and 
fast bound in errors venerated for their antiquity,— 
vicious in their habits, and absorbed in sensual in- 
dulgences,—accustomed to the profane rites of re- 
ligions glittering yet grovelling, and’ degrading yet 
commanding and terrible,—they are unprepared to 
listen to the annunciation of Glory to God in the 
highest, and to appreciate the Gospel, as proclaim- 
ing deliverance from the dominion of sin and death. 


They are strange things which are thus brought to « 


their ears by men of other lands and a purer faith, 
claiming the authority of that unknown God,— 


“From whom departing, they are lost, and rove 
At random, without honor, hope or peace ;” 


16 


and often their thoughts are not to be turned by any 
amount of testimony or argument from their deep- 
worn channels, nor their affections diverted from 
objects of their earliest and devoutest worship. 
The stupidity of the Hottentot, the sensuality of 
the Hindoo, the prejudice of the Mohammedan, the 
ancestral pride of the self-styled “‘ Son of heaven,” 
and the sottishness of the South-Sea Islander, alike 
interpose a wall high as heaven between the Chris- 
tian teacher and the child of ignorance—a wall that 
shall one day sink like the battlements of Jericho at 
God’s presence, but can never be overthrown by 
combinations of human skill and power alone. « 

It is too late in the day to indulge the fancies of 
some good men even—that by the sound of the 
hammer and the saw, pagans may be allured to sit 
patiently under the shade of their bread-fruit trees, 
and listen to the tidings of salvation ;—that their 
religious prejudices so much run in the current of 
divine revelation, as to predispose them to receive the 
humbling doctrines of the Gospel ;—that from the 
king on the throne to the infant of a year old, they 
are ready to throng Christian schools, and attend 
the worship of Jehovah ;—and that their generosity 
to each other, their bounty and liberality to stran- 
gers, their care of their children, their filial rever- 
ence, their honesty and fidelity, their truthfulness 
and tender mercies, are unequalled. Such dreams 
have been indulged, with a confidence due only to 
holy verities, in regard to some heathen tribes if not 
all,—I hardly need say, to the mortification of the 
dreamers, and the disappointment of Zion’s too san- 


17 


guine friends. But Paul has described the heathen 
every-where, not more graphically than truthfully. 
He deals not in fiction, when he portrays them as 
vain in their imaginations, given up to uncleanness, 
worshiping the creature more than the Creator, full 
of envy, murder, debate, deceit, and malignity. 
Long and sad experience declares that infernal pas- 
sions dwell in Pagan bosoms, triumphing over even 
the great law of self-preservation, dealing out death 
and destruction to parents and children, driving on 
wars and fightings for purposes of rapine and plun- 
der, shedding the blood of acknowledged benefac- 
tors for gain, and devouring enemies with the re- 
morseless fierceness of the tiger or anaconda ;—and 
all this, in the presence of their gods, and in avowed 
obedience to their behests. Essentially true is this 
of the entire pagan world. Alienation from God, 
leading to deliberate revolt from every shadow of 
his authority, forms the all-pervading feature of its 
character, and renders its aspects toward man as 
well as God, “ evil, only evil, and that continually.” 
“«There is none that- doeth good, no, not one.” 
Estimate then, if you can, the magnitude of this 
difficulty ! 

3. Another difficulty arises from the local cireum- 
stances of large portions of the heathen world. 

Climes inhospitable as those of Greenland and 
Labrador, or of Western Africa, Malaysia, and other 
equinoctial lands, where either the rigors of perpet- 
ual winter or the rays of a vertical sun combine with 
ice-clad rocks or miasmatic marshes to annihilate 


the ever-decaying energies of man, present fearfully 
3 


18 


appalling obstacles to missionary enterprise. Large 
sacrifices of life must be heroically made, and still 
larger sacrifices of the conveniences and comforts of 
civilized society ; health, ease and abundance must 
be freely exchanged for sickness, toil and penury; 
association with refined and congenial minds, must 
be relinquished for companionship with the vulgar 
and the rude, the indolent and the filthy; the 
dwarfish Esquimaux and the treacherous Caffre, the 
bronzed savage of the American wilds, and the 
dark-hued child of African deserts, must be taken 
affectionately by the hand and led to the cross, as 
equally the heirs of immortality, and equally suscep- 
tible of cleansing by the blood of Atonement, as 
the most favored of the sons of earth. And whether 
it be Hans Egede or Vanderkemp, Brainerd or 
Mills, Hall or Newell, Lyman or Lowrie, they must 
brave dangers and plunge into deaths oft, with none 
but the eye of the Invisible to see, and none but 
the arm of the Eternal to sustain them, in those 
fields of labor where biting frosts, or deadly malaria, 
or the passions of fiends in human form, maintain 
unquestioned dominion. 

And when to all this is added, the common work 
of the missionary in every land—the labor of 
accommodating habits of thought to the cireum- 
stances of the narrow-minded and sensual, without 
diminishing the mind’s energy—of acquirmg new 
and unwritten languages, transferrmg them to the 
printed page, and instructing the undisciplined in 
the simplest rudiments of useful knowledge, and in 
the abstruse elements of science ;—thus subduing 


19 


at once ignorance, indolence, pride and self-conceit, 
inciting a thirst for intellectual progress; and above 
all, inspiring the high resolve to abandon each vile 
superstition, and arise and go to Jesus, crying, 
** Lord! save, or I perish ”—and_ then reflect, that 
every land under heaven, however inhospitable and 
forbidding, is embraced in the great commission— 
we cannot evade the conviction, that difficulties 
thickly crowd the path of the self-devoted mis- 
sionary. 

4. Still another difficulty springs from the too 
prevalent scepticism of Christendom on the question 
of duty to the heathen. 

Avowed infidelity on this subject is unpopular ; 
and high encomiums are often lavished on the disin- 
terested and adventurous spirit, that breaks away 
from the endearments of home, and the attractions 
of civilized life, to carry the tidings of salvation to 
the ends of the earth. Still, in many quarters, 
there is felt an ill-disguised contempt for the reputed 
fanaticism that-prompts to self-sacrifice for such an 
object ; for the controlling motives of the mission- 
ary are not comprehended, the moral condition of 
the world is not justly understood, nor is the author- 
ity of the King of Zion cordially acknowledged. 
And hence, the stale objections of other years, 
though thoroughly disproved in the providence of 
God, still exert a wide and deadly though unac- 
knowledged influence; and whether declared or 
not, it is surmised that the missionary enterprise is 

| impracticable, without the miraculous interposition 
_ of Heaventhat little has been accomplished, even. 


t 
' 


} 


om 
at the cost of large expenditures—that civilization 

must precede the introduction of a heaven-born sys- 

tem of faith and morals—that the heathen world is 

more virtuous and happy in its ignorance and _ bar- 

barism than is commonly believed—that we have 

heathen enough at home, to call into action all our 

sympathies and charities—that we have not at 

command sufficient means to give the Gospel to all 
nations—that the church must cease her own con- 

tentions, throw aside her superstitions, and cultivate 

a more fraternal spirit among her sons and daugh- 

ters, ere she assume to bear the olive branch over a 

contending world—and, that “the time has not 

come” to rear the temple of the Lord amid the hill- 

tops of idolatry. 

These are either facts or fictions. But, that they 
are not facts, is susceptible of the clearest proof from 
history, experience and prophecy. And if they are 
fictions, they indicate only a godless scepticism, pro- 
portioned to their prevalence. But that this scepti- 
cism is broadly diffused among “ the children of this 
world,” and over Christendom,—that it operates 
powerfully to paralyze the energies of the church, 
—that it leads to the withholding of co-operation in 
well-concerted plans of benevolent effort, and even 
arouses a stern resistance to the claims of oppressed 
humanity,—and, that it involves regardlessness of 
the soul’s worth, of the value of Jesus’ blood, and 
the regenerating influences of the Holy Spirit, will 
not be questioned by the true-hearted observer ; nor 
will the moral atmosphere thus surrounding the liv-- 
ing Christian, depressing his holiest affections, en- 


21 


feebling his highest resolves, and tempting him to 
the neglect of his plainest duties, be less dreaded 
when perceived, nor less anxiously shunned, than 
the sirocco of the desert, or the miasma of Acheron, 
by the health-seeking traveler. 

5. Another difficulty arises from the character of 
the intercourse maintained between nominal Chris- 
tendom and the heathen nations. 

The larger portions of the unevangelized world 
make their first acquaintance with Christianity 
through men as far removed from its spirit, as those 
who have never heard of Christ. The cupidity and 
fraud, the licentiousness and violence of many com- 
mercial men and their agents, released from the re- 
straints of Christian association, and tempted by 
example and opportunity to the indulgence of their 
ruling passions, are as familiarly known, as they are 
deserving of abhorrence. The brandy of France, 
and the rum of New England, the opium of British 
India, and the cannon of European navies, combined 
with the intemperance and debauchery, profaneness 
and falsehood of foreigners thrown into the ports, 
and resident in the cities of the dark-minded idolater, 
foster the vicious propensities of his untutored na- 
ture; plunge him deeper in pollution, than if left to” 
the unmixed influences of his own debased religion, 
and increase his repugnance toa Faith that promises 
no improvement either to his social or moral con- 
dition. 

But the most subtle and pernicious intercourse 
with heathen communities is maintained by men 
who claim to act under Heaven’s commission, but 


22. 


‘“¢ whose coming is after the working of Satan—with 
all deceiveableness of unrighteousness ;” men, who, 
like the priests of Jeroboam and the disciples of 
Loyola, blend in unholy union the rites of Pagan and 
Christian worship, transferring the honors of Jeho- 
vah to Baal or Brama, and exchanging the sim- 
plicity of Christ, for the imposing magnificence of 
an idol temple. Schwartz and Gerricke in India, 
Hocker and Rueffer in Persia and Abyssinia, and 
others of like spirit in South America and the 
Islands of the sea, encounter an opposition more 
fierce and obstinate from these “false Apostles,” 
than from the priests and devotees of the most bloody 
and obscene superstitions. ‘The thousands of bap- 
tized Pagans gathered into churches, whether by the 
minions of the Romish See, for the glorification of 
Mary and the aggrandizement of the Papaey—or, 
by the armed missionaries of Protestant govern- 
ments, for the consolidation of their power and in- 
crease of their revenues,—whether persuaded to 
repeat their Avé Marias and Pater Nosters m con+ 
nection with their prostrations and lascivious dances 
before the shrines of idols, or compelled by force of 
arms to repeat the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Com- 
mandments within a Christian temple, are not only 
heathens still, but are more thoroughly fortified 
against the legitimate influences of the Gospel, than 
their former brethren in ignorance; pure Paganism, 
corrupt and destructive as it is to the soul, yields 
more readily to the claims of evangelical Christian- 
ity, than Paganism baptized into the name of presen 
Son, and Holy Ghost. tM 


23 


Such are some of the difficulties that impede the 
onward movement of the missionary enterprise ; diffi- 
culties to be overcome by the church, only when she 
shall be found “ steadfast, unmoveable, and always 
abounding in the work of the Lord.” And, it is 
due to truth to say, that they are rather imposing in 
their aspects, than substantial in their character ; 
for were they accumulated an hundred fold and mag- 
nified into impossibilities in our eye, we might still 
say to them, either severally or collectively, ‘« What 
art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel ! ” 
At the touch of God’s finger they vanish, and before 
the breath of his nostrils, they are as the chaff of the 
summer threshing-floor before the whirlwind; with 
God, all things are equally possible, as the deliver- 
ance of Noah from the deluge, of Daniel from the 
lion’s den, and of Paul from the prison of Philippi. 
** Prayer, pains, and perseverance,” with his blessing, 
** accomplish all things.” 

And if the soldier braves the dangers of the land 
and the sea, of the battle-field and the prison-house 
in defence of his country, or for the glory of his rul- 
ers,—if the mariner dares the fury of the elements 
and the fierce passions of savage men, for the fame 
of discovery, or the gains of commerce,—and if the 
merchant encounters the perils of unknown seas, 
insalubrious climes and hostile governments, for the 
increase of wealth and of luxury,—shall the follower 
of Christ succumb to the pressure of no more than 
equal dangers, and forego the rapturous “ Euge ” 
from the lips of Christ, “Well done ! good and 
faithful servant,” when assured that the everlasting 


2A, 


arms are underneath him, and that the gates of hell 
shall never prevail against him ! 

This leads us to the third topic suggested for con- 
sideration, viz. 


III. The promised reward, ‘ Your labor shall not 
be in vain in the Lord.” 

The work of missions is the Lord’s work, con- 
ducted on the broadest scale. If he that converteth 
one sinner from the error of his way hideth a multi- 
tude of sins, and creates joy among the angels— 
who shall calculate the blessings conferred on earth 
and heaven, by the man who throws himself with 
all his affections and energies, into the work of the 
world’s conversion! And, if every man shall receive 
at the hand of the Lord according to that he hath 
done, whether it be good or bad, then the individual 
and the church thus self-devoted, and aboundimg in 
the work of missions, shall receive abundant grace 
and glory. 

Labor for God ever brings its own reward. Such 
is the divine constitution, to be recognized on earth 
as in heaven. God’s blessedness consists in Love, 
ever outflowing in beneficent action. Angelic hap- 
piness springs from ceaseless activity in minis- 
tering to them who are the heirs of salvation. And 
obedience to the same law of love ensures to man 
the consciousness of acceptance with God, and fel- 
lowship with the spirits about the throne. 


But, the Apostle addresses the church collectively, — 


and assures her that her labor for the conversion of 


men to the faith of Jesus, shall not be in vain, and — 


ap. 


| 


29 


that in her embodiment, as the visible representative 
of Christ, she shall receive a reward proportioned to 
her fidelity. 

Thus warranted to apply the promise to the church 
in all her generations, | say, 

1. That Christendom reaps the reward, in the 
reflex influence of the missionary enterprise on her- 
self. 

She glories justly in the superiority of her lit- 
erature and science ; but never since the world be- 
gan have they advanced so rapidly and shone so 
splendidly, as since the commencement of modern 
missions. The researches of Buchanan in India, 
and of Jowett in Turkey,—the labors of Fisk and 
Parsons in Palestine and Syria, of Martyn in Hin- 
doostan and Persia, of Morrison, Milne, and Gutzlaff 
in China, and the explorations of an hundred others 
of the same spirit among the spice-bearing isles of 
the Southern ocean, or the snow-clad forests of the 
North, the wilds of our own continent, or the burn- 
ing sands of Africa,—have poured floods of light on 
the natural history of the world, the physical and 
intellectual resources of man, the geographical limits 
of nations and their relative strength, their customs 
and habits, their languages and modes of thought, 
their comforts and privations—matters of high prac- 
tical utility, with all who would judge correctly of 
the capabilities of the race, and of the best means 
for its improvement. 

’ Her commercial relations have extended propor- 


| tionably to her advanced literature and science, and 
_ the productions of nations widely separated from her 


4 


26 


by intervening oceans, are easily and profitably pro- 
cured. If the manufactures of our country find 
their way to Africa and China, to the Sandwich 
Islands and India, in increasing abundance, and pro- 
duce correspondingly remunerative returns, it is 
because the herald of salvation has gone thither, 
seeking the welfare of the people, changing their 
habits of life, breaking down their prejudices, and 
creating a demand for comforts and wealth before 
unknown. . 
So, wherever these men of God have gone, they 
have inspired respect for the lives and property of 
strangers ;—disarmed the barbarian of his spear and 
poisoned arrows—warmed his bosom with compas- 
sion for the sick and ship-wrecked mariner—and 
constrained him to divide his last morsel with the 
famished traveler, and speed him on his way. 
Thousands in Christian lands have thus been saved 
the sorrows of widowhood and orphanage, penury, 
and living death, by the direct influence of mission- 
ary establishments: they are so many strong towers 
into which the distressed run and are safe—so many 
asylums where the wretched find consolation, the 
sick obtain healing, and the dying, angelic support. 
Hence, the earnest inquiry of the sailor, thrown by 
the violence of the waves on an unknown land— 
‘Ts the Christian missionary here ?””—mno sooner 
meets an affirmative response, than his fears vanish, 
—he “thanks God and takes courage.” 
These, however, and others like them, are but 
the smaller rewards following the discharge of duty, 


27 


and unworthy to be comparéd with those that per- 
tain to “life and immortality.” 

Of these, however, it must suffice to say—that 
individual and social piety, depending for its vitality 
and power on the comprehensive views taken of 
God and the principles of his government, in con- 
nection with man’s duty to a revolted world, cannot 
be vigorously sustained, except by diffusion; and 
that the indispensable condition on which rests 
growth in grace and a harvest of future glory, is ac- 
tive devotedness to the work of universal regen- 
eration. The mind is enlivened, the affections are 
elevated and refined, and the comforts of the Holy 
Ghost are multiplied, in proportion as the demands 
on beneficent action are promptly and generously 
- met. 

And, looking for the origin of Bible Associations, 
Tract and Education Societies, Sabbath Schools, 
Temperance movements, and a thousand other 
appliances for the elevation of the intellectual and 
moral character of Christendom, we shall find it in 
those enlarged views of religious obligation inspired 
of Heaven, and giving birth to the foreign mission- 
ary enterprise more than a hundred years ago, and 
then stimulating and strengthening those home mis- 
sionary operations that give no equivocal promise of 
making our own, the glory of all lands. 

Or, if revivals of religion multiply, and long 
standing churches renew their youth, and infant 
churches rise to early manhood, and healthful disci- 
pline vindicates their purity, and zeal for the pro- 
gress of truth and love imparts to them the splendor 


28 


of the sun, the beauty of the moon, and the terri- 
bleness of an army with banners,—if denomina- 
tional divisions and strifes vanish, and Christians of 
differing names rush into the embraces of a holier 
fellowship, to the confusion of gainsayers,—it is 
because the paramount claims of the Lord’s work of 
missions are admitted, and the carnal, self-aggran- 
dizing policy of darker times discarded. 

So the Bible derives new confirmations of its 
divine authority, from the severe tests applied to it 
in the progress of its translation into the various 
languages of men, and from corroborative facts, 
gathered up from all portions of the earth, illustra- 
tive of its history, its doctrines, and its prophecies, 
and thus opposes an invincible antagonism to ram- 
pant infidelity ; while at the same time, the strength 
of error in all its Protean forms is weakened, and 
its hopes extinguished, through the rapid aecumula- 
tion of such proof of ‘Truth’s divinity, as missionary 
investigation is ever bringing to the light. 

And then, the noblest specimens of humanity that 
have ever met the eyes of men or angels, are found 
on the field of Foreign Missions. Devotion to the 
world’s welfare and moral heroism have never shone 
in men elevated to thrones of power, or leading on 
armies to conquest and renown, as in the Eliots 
and Brainerds, the Careys and Marshmans, the Med- 
hursts and Abeels of missionary fame. And if the 
mind that conceives and the hand that executes the 
noblest purposes, be the main constituents of moral — 
greatness, then does greatness belong not less really — 
to Fuller and Bogue, Worcester and Evarts, than to— 


29 


Luther and Calvin, or Peter and Paul. These are 
the men, who, with their compeers in labor, and 
under the direction of the Holy One, bring light 
out of darkness and order out of confusion,—who 
supplant barbarism by civilization, superstition by 
simple faith, servitude by rational liberty, and ex- 
tinguish the fires of licentiousness by the waters of 
the river of life, and silence the shrill clarion of war, 
by the deep-toned harp of heaven ! 

2. Christendom reaps a still greater reward, in the 
success of her labors abroad. 

Of this success we have the strongest assurance 
in the promises of God. These promises are not 
only ‘‘ Yea and Amen, in Christ Jesus,” but intelli- 
gible in their announcement, and unmistakable in 
their appropriation. 

‘In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s 
house shall be established in the top of the moun- 
tains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all 
nations shall flow unto it.” 

* All the ends of the earth shall remember and 
turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the na- 
tions shall worship before him.” 

“They shall teach no more every man his neigh- 
bor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the 
Lord, for they shall all know him, from the least of 
them to the greatest.” 

“« Every valley shall be exalted, and every moun- 
tam and hill shall be made low, and the crooked 
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, 
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all 
flesh shall see it together.’’ 


30 


‘*‘ According to his promise, we look for new 
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth right- 
eousness ;” ‘the Gospel of the kingdom shall be 
preached in all the world, for a witness unto all na- 
tions ;”? and “in that day, there shall be one Lord, 
and his name one.” 

Such are the assurances of “ the Lord of heaven 
and earth.” Idolatry, the abominable thing that 
he hates, shall perish from under these heavens, 
and the temples of Jehovah shall rise on the 
ruins of effete superstitions; the divinely estab- 
lished relationships of life shall be every where 
recognized, and the face of society changed; every 
yoke shall be broken, and whatsoever men would 
that others should do to them, that they shall do to 
others ; 


‘“ All crimes shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail ;” 


the trial of bonds and imprisonments, of cruel mock- 
ings and scourgings, shall be known no more ; the 
spear and the rack, the dungeons of the inquisition 
and the flames of the auto-da-fe, the morais of the 
Pagan, and the scimetar of the Mohammedan, shall 
be remembered but as the fitful dreams of a mad- 
dened world, slumbering through a long and dismal 
night. Pride and envy, with their kindred passions, 
shall die out of human hearts, and devotion to the 
interests of humanity and the glory of God shall 
succeed them. The rulers of the world shall fear 
God and work righteousness ; the kings of ‘Tarshish 
and of the isles, the kings of Sheba and Seba shall — 
offer gifts ; yea, all kings shall fall down before him, 


31 


and sacrifice their wisdom and power, their wealth 
and honors on his altars; and then the blood-thirsty 
Dyak and the wary Siamese, the haughty Turk and 
deceitful Greek, the polished European and the 
groveling African, the diminutive child of the Arc- 
tic, and the stalwart Patagonian, shall assimilate and 
love as brethren, 


“Nor sigh nor murmur, the wide world shall hear.” 


Such are the results certain to flow in upon the 
church when “ abounding in the work of the Lord.” 

Other demonstration of “ the exceeding greatness 
of power” is not demanded for the completion of 
the great work in progress, than that which shall 
turn the undivided attention of the Christian world, 
to the single object for which the material universe 
stands. Let the church emulate the fortitude and 
zeal of Christ and his Apostles, and pour her prayers 
and tears, her alms and labors into the treasury of 
the Lord, with the freeness and fullness of primitive 
ages, and her confidence in the promises of God 
will gather fresh strength with each revolving year ; 
_ but she needs more than the resolution of the mon- 
arch who said, “ J’ll have it known that my flag can 
protect a paroquet;”’ even the nobler heroism of the 
man who in view of bonds and afflictions, exclaimed, 
** None of these things move me ; I take pleasure in 
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecu- 
tions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; when I am 
weak, then am I strong.” 

Though the world shall be converted to God, as 
certainly as ‘he is not a man that he should lie, nor 


32 


the son of man that he should repent,” yet it is 
a progressive work, requiring not. only firmness and 
heroism, but practical wisdom for its completion. 
The most promising fields of labor are to be first 
selected, as well as the fittest means for their culti- 
vation. The soul of man, if every where equally 
precious, is not every where equally accessible. 
Though we honor the spirit that lavished sixty years 
of unavailing toil on the wandering Calmucs of 
Tartary, and sought to penetrate the interior of 
Persia in quest of a few doubtful descendants of the 
Magi, and hazarded life to recover the Mohammedan- 
oppressed Copts and Abyssinians from their degrad- 
ing superstitions, and dared the frozen regions of 
Labrador, and defied the arrows of death, flying 
thickly among the Sunderbunds of Hindoostan ; yet 
the policy is more than questionable, that overlooks 
at the same time, the equally urgent claims of more 
salubrious portions of the earth, less burdened with 
ignorance and superstition. If some fields are more 
white to the harvest than others, they demand the first 
attention of the husbandman ; nor are they the fields 
where cockle and darnel most luxuriantly grow, nor 
where the fiercest beasts of prey make their haunts; 
but a wise economy of compassion and toil forbid 
the waste of energy and life where unpropitious cir- 
cumstances crowd out the hope of early success, 
when localities are open which promise quick and 
large returns for every expenditure of pious labor. 
Missionary enterprises are liable to temporary 
failure, too, not only through deficiency of wisdom 
in their conductors, but through the inadequacy of 


33 


support derived from the sympathies, prayers, and 
pecuniary contributions of the churches. So the 
health of the missionary may fail, and his heart be 
overborne by discouragement ; or the calamities of 
war, pestilence, and famine may overflow his field 
of labor ; and after years of alternating hope and 
fear, he may retire from his post with the lamenta- 
tion of the Prophet on his lips,—‘I have labored 
in vain, | have spent my strength for naught and in 
vain.” Still, 
“Though seed lie buried long in dust, 
It sha’nt deceive our hope.” 

Egede may mourn over the disappointed hopes of fif- 
teen years’ arduous toil, though seven years of super- 
added labor, by other men, brings to light the germi- 
nating principle of the seed sown, and results in a 
glorious harvest. Schmidt may abandon Africa after 
seven years of apostolic effort, believing that he has 
accomplished nothing ; but fifty years afterwards, he 
is remembered there, by one, whom he led to Jesus 
in her childhood, and who loves the shade of the 
pear-tree planted by her teacher’s hand, and whose 
faith and love stay up the hands of a new and more 
successful missionary band. No! the Gospel cannot 
be preached in its simplicity in vain, whether among 
the hills of Palestine, the ruins of N ineveh, the fast- 
nesses of Koordistan, the jungles of Burmah, the 
mosques of Arabia, or the temples of China. As 
certamly as the salvation of God is sent unto the 
Gentiles, they will hear it, and sooner or later exult 
in hope, and glorify God. Busy as earth’s millions 
are to-day, in their pursuits of gain and self-indul- 


5) 


34 


gence,—vainly sanguine as they are in their expect- 
ations, and reckless of responsibility to God, and of 
the retributions of eternity, yet when the voice of 
Love shall reach them from the throne, through the 
abounding labors of the church, they shall be ar- 
rested in their wild career, nations shall be born in 
a day, the deathless interests of myriads shall be 
secured, the joys of the church triumphant shall be 
multiplied, and new glories shall gather around the 
head of Emanuel. God’s word and providence, the 
power of his truth and the omnipotence of his Spirit, 
together declare it. 

You will permit me, in conclusion, to suggest 
three 


REFLECTIONS. 


1. The elements of success in the missionary en- 
terprise are few and simple. 

Among these, are the love of God shed abroad in 
the heart by the Holy Ghost, especially as he ap- 
pears in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. 
When Christ and his cross fill the eye of the church, 
and he becomes to her ‘as a bundle of myrrh, or 
a cluster of camphor in the vineyards of Engedi,” — 
she is constrained to declare his loveliness to the — 
world, and conjure all nations to fall down and wor- 
ship him. 

Then, there enters into the spirit of missions, a 
just appreciation of the worth of the soul,—of the 
dangers that crowd its pathway to another world,— 
of its possible salvation through the blood of the 
God-man, and of its inevitable destiny to weal or 
wo, agreeably to the image here impressed on it. 


35 


Then, the actual condition of the heathen world 
—its spiritual wants and miseries—its cherished 
reasonings on man’s relations to God’ and eternity— 
its idolatries and vices, with the social and moral 
habits fostered by its false religions,—will be investi- 
gated and deplored by every man who has the mind 
that was in Christ. 

Then, are the heathen to be met with all those 
appliances of wisdom and kindness, that are appro- 
propriate to the conversion of the ungodly in en- 
lightened lands—by the rudimental and more ad- 
vanced processes of education—by instruction in 
science and intellectual discipline, in agriculture and 
the mechanic arts, in connection with the clear 
announcements of evangelical truth, whether in the 
school-room or on the highway, in the house of God 
or at the gate of the idol’s temple. Knowledge is 
the mother of devotion, and kindness is the hand- 
maid of knowledge. Ignorant zeal may multiply 
gilded crosses, forced baptisms and imaginary con- 
versions ; but the barbarities of men like Magellan 
and Balboa, can never be converted into instru- 
ments of good, nor can oceans wash away the guilt 
of leaving immortal mind under the oppression of 
darkness, when “godliness has the promise of the 
life that now is, and of that which is to come.” 

And, when the pagan is brought to the knowl- 
edge of the truth, by this various and patient labor, 
his faith is to be strengthened by watchfulness and 
forbearance. As the unfledged dovelet has not the 
sweet note and comely plumage of the parent bird, 
nor the infant child the vigor and fortitude of the 


36 : 


full-grown man, so the new convert from paganism 
is deficient in the intelligence and meek firmness of 
the well-instructed and mature disciple. The same 
consistency of character and elevation of purpose 
cannot be anticipated in the recently enlightened 
heathen, as in the man taught from infancy in the 
oracles of God. The moral atmosphere in which 
the one has ever had his being, as little resembles - 
the moral atmosphere of the other, as the pesti- 
lential breathings of the moss-green swamp resem- 
ble the pure breezes that fan the mountain top. 
Kairnak and Africaner, Duaterra and Romatone, 
though signal trophies of grace, are not imvul- 
nerable to shafts hurled by the mighty Prince of 
Evil; for neither Prophet nor Apostle, with their 
broader and thicker shields, were safe from such 
assaults; and, if converts from heathenism back- 
slide even by hundreds, it is but a repetition of the 
fact that made the tears of the Apostles flow, and 
excited their increased diligence and watchfulness ; 
for beside the deceitfulness of the heart and the 
carnality common to all men, the deep ignorance of 
the heathen, the abjectness of their social condi- 
tion, their vain but venerated traditions, their time- 
honored customs of profligacy, impelling to infanti- 
cide, parricide, Thuggish murders, and cannibalism 
—all conflict steadily with the holiest efforts to 
transform them into symmetrical Christians. But 
in proportion as light increases, through the multi- 
plication of schools and colleges, the elevation of 
the female mind, the establishment of churches and 
exercise of salutary discipline, the instructions of — 


37 


native preachers, the translation and distribution of 
the Scriptures, and the diffusion of all useful 
knowledge,—the standard of Christian character 
will rise, and the attainments of true disciples will 
become more commensurate with the requisitions of 
the Bible. 

The love of God and joy in the great salvation, a 
due estimate of the soul’s value and the actual con- 
dition of the heathen world, wisdom in counsel, and 
affectionate desires, combined with various and pa- 
tient labor, form then the main elements of success 
in the missionary enterprise. 


2. Personal consecration to this work is demand- 
ed of every believer. 

The duty of each member is identical in its 
nature and claims, with the duty of the entire body 
of Christ. If prayer, labor, and sacrifice are neces- 
sary to the world’s conversion, they are equally de- 
manded of one and all who acknowledge Jesus as 
their Lord and Master. When the spirit that 
prompted the whole body of Moravian brethren to 
resolve, individually as well as collectively, to fulfil 
the Savior’s commission, in face of poverty and 
contempt, and impelled sixty-six of their number 
within thirty years to lay down their lives for the 
spiritual redemption of slaves, and other scores to 
press toward the same sacrificial altar, and sustained 
Zeisberger and Heinrich in the endurance of jeal- 
ousy and suspicion, violence and death, for the 
recovery of wandering savages to the love of God— 
shall pervade the church at large, and illustrate be- 


38 


fore the world the union of confidence in God and 
personal consecration, then shall be seen 
“New heavens, new earth, ages of endless date 

Founded in righteousnsss, and peace and love 

To bring forth fruits, joy and eternal bliss.” 
This personal consecration, beyond all things else, is 
needed now ; and whether it appear in the form of 
fervent and effectual prayer, flowing from the heart 
of the “unknowing and unknown” believer ; or, of 
the self-denial that prompts the rich man to bestow 
his thousands, and the poor widow her two mites, 
and the talented youth to devote his entire life and 
influence to the world’s regeneration—it is all the 
same ; humanity claims it, God demands it, glory, 
honor and immortality reward it. A few recognize 
the duty, others halt between two opinions, but an 
immense majority say, ‘I pray thee have me ex- 
cused.” 

I once knew—and all of you have often heard 
of—the little band of college youth, whose prayers 
and deliberations among the hills of Berkshire, and 
in the sweet seclusion of Andover, gave birth to the 
most splendid enterprise that gilds the heaven- 
written pages of our country’s history—and whose 
was the spirit of entire consecration to the sole ob- 
ject of making known the Savior’s name, through- 
out the world. The bold and energetic piety of 
Hall, the meek and quiet devotion of Richards, the 
far-reaching eye and deep-feeling heart of Mills, 
and the mingling confidence and tears of their few 
companions, were but living characteristics of the 
spirit that animates every disciple of Jesus, entering 


are 


39 


successfully into the work of the Lord ; and it is 
a spirit that can never die, while the promises of 
God stand firmer than the everlasting hills, though 
even now it confessedly languishes, and leaves 
to weak faith a large inheritance of doubts and 
fears ; but, it shall revive again, and urge onward 
thousands among successive generations to deeds of 
noble daring on the broad field of conflict between 
Michael the Prince, and the Devil and his angels. 
The young men of our colleges and higher semina- 
ries shall again catch the fire that burned so brightly 
on their altars a few years since ; and other young 
men and maidens, old men and children, shall en- 
courage their aspirations, praise the name of the 
Lord, and partake of the rewards of the wise, who 
turn many to righteousness ; and when it is said of 
the fathers still living, as of those now dead, 
‘¢ Where are they ? ”—their mantles will have fallen 
upon their children, who shall arise to perfect “ the 
work of the Lord,’ and exult in the world’s re- 
demption from sin’s dominion. 


3. “The time has come” for the house of the 
Lord to be enlarged into a dwelling place of all 
nations. 

So the signs of the times declare. The world is 
thrown open to the eye of Christendom as never 
before. The facilities of intercommunication be- 
tween evangelized and unevangelized lands are not 
only increased, but well-nigh perfected; so that, 
indirectly, the influence of Christianity already per- 
meates the earth, through the extending sway of 


40 


Christian governments, which, by whatever motives 
actuated, guarantee protection to men of every lan- 
guage who shall either declare or receive the words 
of eternal life. Then, the commercial spirit of the 


age, combined with governmental enterprise, and - 


‘‘ bringing to light the hidden things of darkness,” 
is multiplying and strengthening the ligaments that 
bind in harmony the interests of the antipodes, and 
at the same time extends, wherever it goes, a por- 
tion of the moral influence pervading Christian 
lands. Science, too, extends her boundaries, and 
not only, like her Author, “weighs the mountains 
in scales, and the hills in a balance,” and compre- 
hends the adjustments of creative wisdom through- 
out the broad expanse of the solar system,—but 
condescends to the humbler task of exploding the 
absurd theories that have long cramped the intellect 
of India; dispelling the ignorance that with incubus 
effect has settled down upon the bosom of Africa; 
dissipating the airy fancies of “the Celestials” ; 
extinguishing the bloody orgies of demons incar- 
nate, and turning into shame “ the wisdom of the 
Wise, and the understanding of the prudent.” 
Beyond and better than all this—the church her- 
self goes forth in the strength of the Lord, to 
‘‘ preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the 
broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, 
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and 
the day of vengeance of our God;” her voice is 
already heard, though faintly, in the most distant 


lands, and among the most barbarous nations ; at 


her approach darkness recedes, and the “ True 


4] 


Light” shines with increasing splendor; behind 
her, the desert has already become a fruitful field, 
and the dry land, springs of Water; at her touch 
the synagogues of Satan are transformed into tem- 
ples of the living God, and worshipers of devils 
prostrate themselves in her presence before “ the 
King eternal.” 

Indeed, the church combines in her constitution 
the elements of indestructible vitality and irre- 
pressible energy. She outlives the most flourishing 
kingdoms of the world, and triumphs over their 
downfall. Egypt, famed for skill in science, arts 
and arms—Tyre, pre-eminent for commerce, opu- 
lence and strength—Assyrian Nineveh, the home of 
elegance, luxury and pride—Babylon, the Chaldees? 
excellency, mistress and arbiter of nations—all, like 
the Carthaginians and Romans, the Greeks and 
Saracens of later days, though they “caused their 
error in the land of the living, have gone down to 
heir graves, set in the sides of the pit, and there rest 
ipon their swords,” beneath the outstretched arm 
f Zion. And still she lives, to witness the over- 
hrow of every antagonistic power, whether civil or 
ecclesiastical, Pagan or Mohammedan. Meek in 
er spirit, firm in her purpose, simple in her confi- 
ence and ever onward in her movements, neither 
varshaled armies, persecution?s fires, philosophy’s 
retensions, nor Satan’s stratagems, are aught but 
riars and thorns before the devouring flame ; from 
nquering she goes on to conquer, till all the 
owns of earth are laid at Jesus? feet, when heaven 
urs forth the triumphal song—* The kingdoms of 

6 


42. 


the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, 
and of his Christ.” srshs 


«Fixed in the rolling flood of endless years 
The pillar of the eternal plan appears, 
The raving storm and dashing wave defies, 
Built by that Architect who built the skies.” 


Scarce a single generation has passed away, since 
Zion’s ‘duty to the sin-enslaved nations began to be 
seriously discussed under the shade of the haystack, 
and within the walls of a seminary ; nor was it then 
the dream of the most sanguine, that at this hour, 
twelve hundred stations, wide apart as the East from 
the West, on heathen ground, would be oceupied by 
three thousand missionaries and their assistants,— — 
that native schools and colleges would be sending 
forth hundreds of educated heathen to spread the 
illumination of human and divine science over ilim- | 
itable tracts of darkness,—that the press would be 
scattering its myriads of healing leaves along the > 
pathway of every herald of salvation,—that thirty 
millions of Bibles would be revealing the counsels” 
of heaven to men in two hundred different lan- 
guages,—that heathen children by hundreds of 
thousands would be found on their way to Jesus for 
his blessing,—and that willing converts to Christ. 
would be numbered by fifties of thousands. 

Less was this moral revolution contemplated, < 
lying in the purpose of Providence then, than 
wondrous increase of our country’s population amt 
territory since, or, than the speed with which steam 
ships traverse oceans, locomotives measure distances 
and lightnings convey intelligence from land to lane 


AB 


But God is accomplishing great things in his provi- 
dence among the kingdoms of the earth, in their 
domestic institutions and civil relations, scattering 
the proud in their imaginations, putting down kings 
from their thrones, making ‘darkness his secret 
place, and his pavilion round about him dark waters 
and thick clouds of the sky,’ drying up rivers, span- 
ning oceans, opening to the light the long-hid treas- 
ures of the earth, and preparing the way for the 
return of his ransomed ones to their rest by quickly 
successive revolutions in the political world, and by 
new and rapid developments of the laws and en- 
ergies of universal nature. 

Full of grandeur now, is the object before us,— 
to bring the world into subjection to Christ, diffusing 
peace and joy through all its habitations,—to defeat 
hell’s dark designs, and restore a fallen race to 
Emanuel’s arms, and then to fill heaven with rap- 
turous hosannas, by the union of all human voices 
with the multitudes about the throne, till as the 
voice of many waters, and the voice of mighty 
thunderings, they shall echo through the universe the 
joyous anthem, “ Alleluia! for the Lord God omnip- 
otent reigneth,—and the kingdom, and dominion, 
and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole 
heaven, are given to the people of the saints of the 
Most High.” 

Thus, dear brethren, may we ever sacrifice self- 
indulgence to duty, surmount difficulty by steadfast- 
ness, make sure the promised reward by fidelity unto 
the death ; and then, weak and unworthy as we are, 
shall we rise to the holy city, the Jerusalem that is 


nations brought into it,” and u 
of ‘Blessing, and honor, and 
unto Him that sitteth upon the th 
Lamb, forever and ever.” 


on aval 
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AN APPEAL IN BEHALF oF MISSIONS > ADDRESSED TO EPISCOPALIANS. 


SERMON | 


PREACHED BEFORE THE 


Board of Directors 


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: IN THE . 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

IX’ st. JAMES’ CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, 


| ON TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1829. 


ie BY_ALONZO POTTER, 
ne RECTOR OF ST. PAUL’S CHURCH, BOSTON. 
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R. P. & C. WILLIAMS: . 


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SERMON 


PREACHED BEFORE THE « 


Board of Directors 


DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY 
SOCIETY 


OF THE 


__ PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH 


= 5 IN THE 
: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
2 IN ST. JAMES’ CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, 


SS ON TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1829. 


Se 
BY ALONZO POTTER, 
RECTOR OF ST. PAUL’S CHURCH, BOSTON. 


PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE BOARD 


> e 
—==— 


BOSTON : 
R. P. & C. WILLIAMS. 


Ir is due to the subject, as well as to the author, to state that 
this Discourse was undertaken at a very short notice, and was writ- 
ten on the eve and during the intervals of a journey prosecuted for 
the benefit of health. Under such circumstances, it had certainly 
been withheld from the public, were it not that at present the cause 
for which it pleads, seems to have claims paramount to any of a — 
personal or private character. 


PRESS OF PUTNAM & HUNT. 
41, Washington Street. 


SERMON. 


ROMANS, 1. 15. 


1 AM A DEBTOR BOTH TO THE GREEKS AND TO THE BARBARIANS—BOTH 
To THE WISE AND TO THE UNWISE. 


To preach the gospel then, is, in the ethics of 
Paul, but to pay a debt. It is not in his view a gra- 
tuity—the bestowment of which, implies merit, 
while the withholding of it would be scarcely, if at 
all, asin.* Itisadebt. Its obligation is not less 
imperative than that of the ordinary duties of jus- 
tice. Nohuman law, ’tis true, can exactly define 
or enforce this obligation. Its discharge may and 
must be left to the dictates of individual discretion. 

_ When its claims conflict with those of common 
_ equity, they may, and of course should give way. 
| But still its authority is not on these accounts the 
_ less perfect or the less binding. With thé Apostle 
to love one’s neighbor as himself—to do him good 
as he has opportunity—to impart to him therefore, if 
he have it not, the richest of all blessings—the bles- 


*See Appendix A. 


4 


sing of the gospel—this we say, is, inthe estima- 
tion of St. Paul, a duty, for the omission of which, 
there can be at the bar of God no conceivable ex- 
cuse. 

But who is this neighbour? To whom was this 
debt of the Apostle due? The text answers, To 
the Greeks and to the Barbarians. In the vo- 
cabulary of the Greeks, Barbarian, you know, was 
the name of all foreigners—so that to be a debtor 
to the Greeks and Barbarians, was to be a debtor 
to the whole world—or rather, since the Apostle 
speaks here as a Jew, to the whole Pagan world. 
Having committed unto him the Apostleship of 
the uncircumcision, sent forth by his once persecut- 
ed but now adored Master on the first mission to 
the Gentiles, he beholds in each of these Gentiles 
a creditor. ‘They are sitting in darkness, and in 
the shadow of death. To his keeping is con- 
fided the instrument which is to open their eyes, 
and turn them from darkness to light from the 
power of satan unto God. Were he to prove un- — 
faithful to a charge so momentous, wo must be- 1 
tide him. A necessity is laid upon him; he must - 
preach the gospel. And under the vince of this 
conviction, how does he go forth! With what he-— 
roism—with what self devotion! Though bonds 
and afflictions await him in every city; though his” 
course is one of weariness, and painfulness—of " 
watchings and hunger—of great and manifold 
perils, yet nowise daunted, he presses onward 
with a perseverance which nothing but the chains: 


SE pe 


5 


of the imperial Cesar can-arrest,—with an in- 
tensity of ardour which nothing but the hand of 
death can extinguish. 

But who is this Paul ? In what capacity does he 
here speak? Asa private man? nay, but as an apos- 
tle of the Lord Jesus Christ ! As acting under a spe- 
cial commission ? nay, but as acting under that com- 
mission—the warrant of all ministerial authority— 
to preach the gospel to every creature! As engaged 
ina work which is since complete? nay, but as en- 
gaged in one which shall be complete only when the 
kingdoms of this world shall have become the king- 
doms of our Lord and of his Christ! This Paul, 
this Apostle to the Gentiles, this servant of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, my friends, he speaks in the 
name—as the representative of the Christian 
church! 'The obligation which he here owns is her 
obligation. 'To preach repentance and the remis- 
sion of sins among all nations—to labour for the 
extension of his faith, ‘* as muchas in him is,”? to 
the full extent of his ability—to do this now while 
| he has time, while he has strength, while he has 
| opportunity, this is the duty which in behalf of 
| the church of God—in behalf of its every individual 
, member he admits, and for our instruction perma- 
| nently records. 

_ Brethren, are we Christians? Are we ministers? 
| Are we successors of the Apostle; or partakers 
| with him of the same grace? Have we this gospel 
|in our hands? Are there round us millions who have 


\it not? ‘l'o them we are debtors! This precious 
| 


1 


6 


treasure must not be left to corrode with rust—to 
canker under the curse of inactivity! It must not be 
hoarded up as means merely of personal improve- 
ment, or personal gratification! It is not our own! 
It is God’s! we are but its almoners. The gospel 
is a trust confided to us not for our edification only, 
but for the conversion of the world. ‘The Pagan is 
entitled to it no less than we. This Pagan—look 
down upon him as we may, has rights. His adyo- 
vates need not appear here as humble suppliants. 
They need not intreat as a boon what he may de- 
mand as a debt. As a child of God, as one for 
whom Christ died, as a being for whose instruction 
and salvation the gospel was published, he has to 
this gospel an equitable title—a title authenticated 
by God himself—a title recognised this moment at 
his bar—a title therefore to which we do well to give 
heed. Has it been hitherto grievously disregarded? 
For centuries have we slumbered over this enter- 
prise of evangelising the world? Are there now grov- 

elling in dark and ruinous superstition three fourths — 
of our race ; and in the efforts just commencing for 
their recovery, are not Episcopalians bearing their | 
proper, their proportional part. Let them arise— 
as men of taste—as men of feeling—above all as 
Christian men let them arise and give to those ef- 
forts their prayers, their counsel, and their sub- 


stance. 

I. We say, as men of taste. As such men the 
owe their admiration—and if need be thei 
patronage to whatever is splendid in intelle 


7 


or lofty in morals. To no object which can fill 
the mind with great and glorious conceptions— 
should they be indifferent. But where shall they 
find an object which in these respects can com- 
pare with the one before us. Let them collect the 
most illustrious examples of the moral sublime. 
Let them tell of the Grecian hero and his three 
hundreds, rearing themselves as the last barrier of 
their country’s liberty. Let them tell of our own 
honoured Patriot, girding himself up to a great and 
holy enterprise, forgetting all considerations of 
self, and offering on the altar of the public weal, 
his fortune and his life! Let them tell of that con- 
stellation of British Philanthropists, of a Clarkson 
and a Howard, of a Sharpe and a Wilberforce, set- 
ting themselves apart to the service of injured hu- 
manity, and laboring even unto death for the repara- 
tion of its wrongs—and then beside all these, let 
them place the holy and harmless Jesus—let them 
place the Son of God disrobing himself of the 
splendours of divinity, and submitting unto death 
- even the death of the cross. Let them think of 
: Paul putting from him all the honours and immu- 
| nities of the Jewish Sanhedrim, counting not his 
| life dear unto himself, but becoming the willing 
| victim of persecution and scorn. Let them think 
of the modern missionary bidding adieu to kinsfolk 
| and friends, turning with the heart-rending assu- 
|rance that they shall see his face no more, and 
| going out, not knowing whither, for the instruction 
and renovation of degraded man. Is it disinterested 


| 
| 
\ 
} 


| 


8 


magnanimity for which you look? it is here! Is it 
an enterprise to task the best and noblest energies 
of the soul? it is here! Is it an object of transcend- 
ent dignity and importance? it is here! The soul 
is the object for which Christ, and Paul, and their 
heroic successors through all time are willing to la- 
bour and if need be to die. The soul which must 
live forever—the soul which has faculties that can 
fit it for the society of cherubim, or the fellowship 
of devils—this is the subject of their toils And 
whose soul—that of one man? Those of one fami- — 
ly—of one tribe—of one nation—No! but of the © 
whole world. 'To dissipate from the face of the 
earth those endless diversities—to hush those eter- 
nal discords which separate man from his fellow- — 
man—to extend from heart to heart, and from clime | 
to clime, a golden chain of concord and love—to | 
fasten this chain to the very throne of God, and 
make it the medium of praises from beneath, and 
of blessings from above—to roll away from the 
mountains and the vallies those clouds of spiritual 
night, and lay over all the earth the brightness of 


millenial day—Yes! to convert the wide world in- | 
to one great altar—and have 


‘¢ One song employ all nations and all ery, 
Worthy the lamb, for he was slain for us— 
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks, 
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops 
From distant mountains catch the flying joy; 
Till nation after nation taught the strain, 
Earth rolls the rapturous hozanna round,”’ 


9 


to bring on this day we say foretold by Prophets, 
and certified by God himself, is the aim of the mis- 
sionary enterprise; and who, what man of taste 
shall say, that to this cause he is no debtor; that he 
does not owe it his respect; if need be, his liberal 
support ! 

II. But on the man of feeling, this cause has 
higher claims. If he canlook without himself; if 
he can think of something nobler than the indul- 
gence of mere taste; if in one word he has a heart 
that can feel for others’ woe; then let him look at 
the Pagan. We may talk, my friends, as we will 
of the untutored simplicity of savage life; we may 
weave graceful pictures of innocent children of na- 


- ture, free from guile, exempted from sordid pas- 


sions, and leading lives of reckless enjoyment. 
But we err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the facts. 
Paul looked at the Gentiles of his age, as well at 
the uncivilized hordes of the north, as at the culti- 
vated and enlightened cities of the south; and of 
all alike he avers that they lie in wickedness, and 
therefore in wo. He affirms of them collectively, 
that they are “ without natural affection,’’ ‘‘mali- 
cious, implacable, unmerciful,”’? ‘full of covetous- 
ness, deceit, and fraud;’’ “ given up to vile affec- 
tions.’? And whoever now looks closely at their mor- 
al condition, knows that to it may be literally and cir- 
cumstantially applied the description of the inspired 
penman.* Abominations, of which it is a shame 
even to speak; vices and crimes, of which in chris- 


*See Appendix P. 


(i) 


10 


tian lands, the bare thought occasions a thrill of hor- 
ror—these are interwoven in the individual habits, 
and incorporated with the most sacred rites of all 
idolaters. Whatever among us is regarded as con- 
stituting especially the ornament and happiness of 
life; whatever we cling to as most dear among the 
charities of the domestic circle, or whatever we 
prize as most valuable among the sympathies, and 
reciprocities of christian neighbourhood—with them 
these are unknown. Now, is it the gospel alone 
that can purge away these abominations? — Is it the 
gospel alone that can tame the passions, and purify 
the practice of poor degraded human nature? 
Wherever it is planted, will it do as it has ever 
done; abolish cruelty and licentiousness; establish 
integrity, industry, and beneficence; diffuse the 
charities of social life, and introduce those unnam- 
ed and unnumbered delights which make so dear 
the thoughts of family and home? And have we 
this gospel in our keeping? Are we able to bear 
our part, and that a prominent part, in spreading it 
through the world? Who then shall say that it is not 
our duty?—Yes, we are debtors. 'To the Greeks, 
and to the Barbarians ; to the wise and to the un- 
wise; as much as in us is, we owe, we should be 
ready to send the gospel. 

Yonder is a Pagan village! Forget that some 
hundred, or thousand miles separate it from your 
door. Imagine it near you, and willing to be in- 


structed, go and explore its condition. ‘There are - 


mothers who seem bereft of fraternal tenderness; 


NS Carle ne ean teats, 


11 


there are fathers who seem to care not for the off- 
spring who are bone of their bone. Infants are bu- 
ried alive, or cast to crocodiles, by her who bare 
them; while the sick and the aged are deserted and 
left to languish and die unpitied and alone. Feuds 
and animosities, jealousies and strife, are perpetuat- 
ed from generation to generation; and even onhis dy- 
ing bed, the old man is heard charging his children 
never to rest till they have shed the blood of his 
unrequited foe. Men are armed, each against his 
neighbor, and his neighbor against him; while fraud 
and deceit, falsehood and calumny, treachery and 
revenge, embitter all the relations of social life! 
Draw near to that helpless parent. He has reach- 
ed his last hour. Weary of the charge, his own 
offspring have left him by the road side, like a use- 
less thing. Hungry and thirsty his soul fainteth in 
him. He cries for succor; but no ear will listen, 
no hand will relieve. The traveller passes by on the 
other side. The stripling, as he goes along, mocks 
at his groans. The crowd of ruffian children gath- 
er round to cover him with dust, or pelt him with 
stones. He calls on death! It comes! But alas! 
some dark foreboding, some fearful looking for of—_ 
he knows not what—bids him shrink back. He 
trembles; he hesitates; and then plunging into the 
dark, unfathomed abyss of eternity, is seen no more— 
Now would you give nothing? I ask the most cold 
hearted man in this assembly—would you give 
nothing to rescue this being—this village from their 
degradation? Would you give nothing to infuse in- 


12 


to the hearts of these cruel parents, the tender, the 
self-denying affections of a Christian mother ? 
Would you give nothing to warm the bosoms of 
these unnatural youth with the prompt humanity, 
the generous piety of a Christian child? Would you 
give nothing to enfranchise these intellects, so de- 
based and enslaved, and shed upon them the light 
and power of Christian truth? Where is the man— 
let him appear and answer—where is the man who 
dare confess that such objects have no claim? who 
dare admit that he is ready to fold his hands and 
look on, while immortal beings sink down to the 
level of the stye, and wipe from their dishonored 
brows all traces of manhood: and with faculties 
which might make them useful, and happy, and great, 
live lives more brutal, and die deaths more wretched 
than the beasts of the field ? 

Ili. But, my friends, claims yet more sacred 
have these Pagans upon us. We are Christians. 
We look on the heathen, not only as men, but as 
immortal men. We remember that life is a scene 
of probation; that here are formed characters with 
which we enter and spend eternity: and that as 
these characters shall be holy or unholy, so must 
our ultimate condition be happy or wretched. And 
with this fact before us, we cannot but tremble, 
when we think of the ultimate condition of the Hea- 
then. God forbid that we should shut them out 
from all access to his mercy. | We doubt not, that 
in every nation, he that feareth God and worketh 
righteousness, willbe accepted of him. But where, 


13 


we ask, are Pagans who fear God and work 
righteousness? Yes; estimating them only by the 
dim and imperfect light under which they live; com- 
paring their conduct with what they know, or might 
know of moral duty; comparing their daily actions 
with the dictates of that inward monitor, whose 
thoughts meanwhile excuse or else accuse; where, 
we say, are pious Pagans? Observation, experi- 
ence, the concurring voice, not of missionaries 
merely, but of unprejudiced travellers, and of tra- 
vellers inveterately hostile to missions,—these pro- 
claim that there are almost none!* These proclaim 
that of almost all idolaters, it may be said in the 
_ language of St. Paul, that while they know Ged, 
they glorify him not as God; that they like not to 
retain God in their knowledge; that though know- 
ing the divine judgment, that they who commit such 
things are worthy of death, they not only do the 
same, but have pleasure in them that do them! 
And if such be their moral state; if such are the af- 
fections and habitudes with which they enter the 
eternal world; and if in that world we have reason 
to believe that the predominant passions of the heart 
are left to operate without restraint, then what, I 
ask, must be their prospects? Paul hesitates not to 
pronounce of the Heathen of his time, that they 
vere children of wrath, without hope in the world !} 
And who that sees his anxiety to give them the gos- 
* See Appendix C. 


| 
|+ Eph. ii. 3, 12—vewve esyxs—“<men deserving wrath*’-—See Wall in verb 
ryn—See also Rom. iii. 9, compared with iii. 19, i. 18, 32, ii. 12. 


| 


14 


pel; who that reads his expressions of compassion 
as he pronounces them far off—gone out of the 
way, alienated from the life of God; who that sees 
how his soul is pressed and straightened till he 
could finish the work of his ascended Master—and 
above all who that looks on the mission of this Mas- 
ter himself; who that sees him who was in the form 
of God becoming of no reputation, and assuming 
the form of a servant and made in the likeness of 
men, can doubt that the exigency was great—that 
the peril of those whom He came to seek and to 
save, was indeed imminent and awful! 
Here then is the Pagan’s claim. His soul is de- 
praved; and dreadful as is the thought, he does 
seem to be treasuring up wrath against the day 
wrath! He stretches out to you his implorin 
hands, and as he sinks deeper and deeper in the 
abyss of ruin, his cries come up into your ears. 
And will you do nothing for his help ? No matter 
whether he is near or remote—no matter whether 
his ruin is consummating on the banks of the Dela- 
ware or onthe banks of the Hindus. God hath 
made of one blood all nations of men; and in his 
sight, a thousand or ten thousand miles is as one 
mile. Whoever needs your aid; in whosoever b . 
half appeal is made to your bounty, he is your neigh: 
bor. Remember then—I speak to each individua 
—there is one Pagan soul; a soul which must liv 
forever; asoul for which your Saviour bled; a sou 
which can feel and suffer and enjoy as well as you 
there is one such soul that depends for salvatio 


15 


on you and on you alone. After all that benevo- 
lence has done, or during the present age can do, 
millions will still remain unenlightened—Select one 
of these, and reflect that for you it is to say whether 
that soul shall receive the offers of redeeming mercy! 
Youcan humble as may be your station, scanty as 
may be your means,—You, by your prayers, your 
example and your bounty, can create an influence, 
which, going forth in the multiplied forms of Bibles 
and Tracts, and Schools and Missionaries, shall 
constitute a moral impulse sufficient,—I am con- 
scious of no exaggeration when I say it,—sufficient 
to bear at least one soul triumphant into the joy of 
its Lord! But restrain those prayers ; refuse this 
bounty ; co-operate not in this cause; speak and 
act perhaps against it, and thus palsy the energies of 
others, and that soul is lost. You cannot delegate 
its conversion to another. You cannot bequeath it 
to posterity. It has no protracted existence; it is 
contemporary with yourself; with you it will de- 
scend into the tomb; for you therefore—O that the 
Holy Spirit would write this truth on your inmost 
aearts—for you, whose are the means of its sal- 
ation, and without whose remisness it shall not 
pe lost—for you, it is to say, whether at the 
ast day there shall be upon your heads the guilt 
f its blood, or the glory of its redemption ! 

| Wish you my friends for other arguments ?— 
‘hey are at hand. Others there are, and yet more 
inperious. Fou are Christians. As such, you hold 


purselves bound to make reparation for wrongs 
| 


—— 


16 


done by you to any other! On this ground, what 
do you net owe to Idolaters? What for centu- 
ries have you been doing in Pagan lands but 
contracting a long and fearful list of arrears? 
The influence which Christendom has sent over 
those lands—what is it? Her merchant ships, 
cher vessels of war, her soldiers and her traders, 
what have they done for Pagan morals and Pa- 
gan happiness? Ah, let history answer! Let her 
answer in terms which ought to wring from us 
bitter tears. Let her tell of the refinements of 
civilized vice, engrafted on the rank luxuriance of 
savage corruption! Let her tell of burnimg tides 
of ee eae ane across our western wilds, 


and Short to oidutl the race of Aborigines 
forever! Let her tell of debauchery and disease, 
carried by Christian ships to the Islands of the 
Pacific, and annihilating, in less than half a cen- 
tury, two thirds of their whole population! And 
that endless series of wrongs and retaliations, 0! 
external wars and internal “dissentions—of frauds 
and oppressions, commenced by the avarice m 
perpetuated by the intrigues of Christian traders— 
let these rise up before us, as they one day vil 
before God, a swift—terrible witness! For thes 
wrongs, my brethren, may they not claim recom 
pense? What, I ask, on the ground of simp! 
Papatdlioul weet think you in his sight, who | 
no respecter of persons—what think you at b 
bar, who heareth the groanings of the prison 


17 


and the sighing of the oppressed, is not due from 
Christian nations, to these victims of their rapacity! — 
Oh that you could hear their cries, as they now go 
up before the Lord of Sabaoth! Oh, that you could 
hear Africa tell of her children carried captive ; of 
her sons set up for sale in Christian shambles 5 of 
her tribes embroiled in interminable quarrels, and 
her once simple people now tutored in all the hellish 
arts of cruelty and rapine! Oh, that you could hear 
India recount the story of Christian conquests, and 
Christian oppression; of Christian avarice foment- 
ing her bloodiest rites, or looking upon them with 
cold and heartless indifference! Oh, that you could 
stand by some aged chief of your own native tribes, 
and see him point with flashing eye, and agitated 
hand, to the sepulchres of his fathers, and hear him 
tell of territories wrested from them by Christian 
violence; of nations, once mighty, now dwindling 
away, under the desolating influence of Christian 
cupidity ! And oh, above all, that as you hear this 
fearful array of charges, you could also hear that 
no other remuneration can be given, no other remu- 
neration is asked, than the gospel; than that you 
who have so long been conspiring torob these nations 
of their people and their substance, should now 
give them back what is but their own; even the 
light of revelation; the blest charities of Christian 
civilization, and the glorious consolations of an im- 
mortal hope. Yes, brethren, this cause is the cause 
of justice; this debt, is the debt of Christendom ; 


and shame tothe land—shame to the heart, that 
would evade it ! 
3 


18 


And who would evade it! Who, because we 
happen to be the stronger, would tell these hapless 
nations to go back to their idols, and brood there 
over these unexpiated wrongs! Or who will say 
that the ¢éme for their illumination has not come ; 


that they are not yet prepared to receive or to ~ 


comprehend the gospel! that they must wait! And is 
this so? What! when God himself declares that the 
fullness of time has come ; when he decided eighteen 
hundred years ago, that ‘the world was ripe for the 
glad tidings of redemption, shall we profess our- 


selves oo, than him ! Now that such improvements 


have been made in the arts and sciences; now that fa- 
cilities for extending the knowledge, and securing the 
reception of the Bible have been so multiplied ; 
now that the art of printing enables us to flood the 
world with the words of eternal life; now that na- 
vigation is opening to us new and unexplored re- 
gions, and almost annihilating the distance which 


divides them from us ; now that the human mind — 


seems stirred by some mighty impulse, and instead 


of being wedded to old systems of government or — 


religion, looks abroad and talks of coming change— 
is this no time? 'The Apostles im face of the 
Roman power, in defiance of an idolatry more in- 


veterate than the world ever saw; destitute of num- 


bers, or talent, or influence; aided only by the 
gift of tongues, and the power of miracles, could go 


forth, and in 300 years win the whole civilized world © 
to Christ! And shall we, with the power of 


acquiring all tongues; with the record of those same 


19 


miracles to authenticate (which was all that the 
miracles themselves could do,) the divinity of our 
commission; assisted, too, by so many, and such 
peculiar advantages—shall we stand, and parley, 
and say it is not time!* Not time! when Paganism 
seems smitten with infirmity, and tottering under the 
imbecility of old age!+ Not time! when the peo- 
ple of the saints of the Most High, seem going forth 
in serious earnest, to take possession of the kingdom 
and dominion and greatness of the kingdom under 
the whole Heaven! Not time! when on every side 
we have proof positive, and occular, of the practi- 
cability, and the success of their enterprise! when 
the notes of Christian praise are heard from the 
cliffs of the north, and the isles of the south; from 
the shores of the east, and the wilderness of the 
west; when whole villages of Asia are seen subvert- 
ing their idol temples, and tribes of Africa are 
heard calling out for “* good men and good books ;”’ 
when the power and efficacy of Christian truth are 
witnessed in the renovated lives and happy deaths 
of many a Pagan Disciple;{ when from the dying 
lips of a Karaimoku, a Keopuolani, a Catherine 
Brown, there are heard almost at this moment, the 
accents of Christian peace and hope; is this not a 
time? When in God’s name will be the time? 
Are we to wait till more generations shall have de- 
scended into eternity?’ Are we to wait till God, 
wearied with our sloth, shall work some miracle 
to reproach our unbelief, and supersede our la- 


* See Appendix D. + See Appendix E. } See Appendix F. 


20 


bours? Are we to wait, till in literal truth, an an- 
gel of Heaven shall come forth; come to perform 
our duty; come to publish in our stead, the everlast- 
ing gospel unto them that dwell on the earth, and 
to every nation and kindred, and tongue and people ! 
Shall we ? No! while we have opportunity, 
let us do good—let us do good unto all men. Now 
is the time, the accepted time! Ships are freighting 
for every idolatrous land ; access is opening to every 
wandering and benighted horde—they wait, per- 
haps they long for our arrival; time presses—eter- 
nity is at hand; and soon we who can give, and 
they who might have received, shall stand together 
at the judgment seat of Christ. Yea, brethren, 
the time is come; the set time to have mercy upon 
the Heathen. 

Say not that we forget the wants of our own 
country, of our own church. We forget them not. 
We know that they are great; that, if you will, they 
are paramount. We see them pressing up for relief 
from every quarter. We forget not, that an eventful 
moral experiment—an experiment involving not on- 
ly our national destiny, but the destiny perhaps of 
other nations, is here in progress ; that among us 
there has been committed, for the first time, to 
private benevolence, the task of christianizing a 
great and evergrowing people. We do not overlook 
the difficulty of this task, nor deny that it has hith- 
erto been grossly neglected! We often compare 
the extension of population with the extension of 
religious means; and contemplate the appalling 
fact, that the latter is greatly outstripped by the 


21 


former! In one word, that since the formation of 
our government the cause of Christianity has really 
declined among us; that so great is the disparity be- 
tween its advance and the advance of. population, 
that it has lost more than one third of its entire rela- 
tivestrength; that at this moment, and in this land, 
the asylum of conscience and the ark of civil free- 
dom, there are destitute of the means of grace, not. 
less than 4,000,000 of souls, on whose virtue de- 
pend alike the welfare and the being of our re- 
public 5 and, that at this rate, but sixty years need 
elapse before two thirds of our whole population 
will be found living without Christian instruction 
and dying without Christian hope! These are facts 
which we do not deny; which we plainly see; 
and as we see them, we confess that our hearts 
do tremble for our country—for the ark of God !* 
But what then? Because our brethren after the 
flesh have claims, does it follow that the Pagan 
has none’? Because one creditor is pressing, must 
the rights of another be forgotten? Paul was a debt- 
or to the Greeks ; but did he on that account for- 
get that to the Barbarians he was a debtor also ° 
Our countrymen are suffering a famine of the word 
of God; but does that diminish the necessities of 
the Heathen’ Still they frequent the altars of a 
cruel superstition; still to the number of 500,000,000, 
they pine under a bondage direr than was that of 
Egypt; a bondage too, from which we alone can 
rescue them! Who then shall say, “there are 
wants at home—TI can send nothing abroad.??— 


*See Appendix H. 


22 


Let the one be done; but let not the other be left 
undone. Pour the radiance of the gospel on the 
dark places of your Republic; but remembering 
that without its borders there are places yet more 
dark ; remembering that it was for their illumina- 
tion also, that this gospel was confided to your care ; 
on them also, let that radiance be poured. Nor 
wait ere you do this, to see its last triumphs at 
home! Before then, centuries may elapse. Im- 
itate rather the example of the Apostles. Go 
first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel: and 
when they have received the invitation of Mercy, 
then, whether they hear or whether they forbear, 
hasten onwards. If, like the chosen people of old 
they put it from them; ifthey listen to it only with dull 
and insensate hearts, then turn ye to the Gentiles. 
Leave behind you Bibles to instruct, ministers to 
exhort; and your charity having thus begun at home, 
let it continue and increase, and advance. Its ef- 
forts are to be bounded only by your ability—by 
the spiritual exigencies of mankind. The field is 
the world. You may not gather in a full harvest 
from one part of this field when the seed is not even 
sown in another! It must whiten together unto the 
harvest.— You may not introduce the millenium into 
one nation, when in another the slightest prepara- 
tion for it has not been made! The intercourse 
subsisting between them, must forever forbid this.— 
If you would indeed accelerate the approach of that 
blest era, you must do as did the first Missionaries 
of the cross. Having planted the church in one 


23 


place, you must hasten to another. Having made a 
lodgment in the enemies’ country, you must plant at 
favorable points your fortresses, and leave them to 
complete the conquest! Your labours must be ea- 
tended, and extended, and extended, till missionary . 
stations shall twinkle as radiant points over all the 
expanse of Pagan darkness. ‘Then may you look 
for the second advent of the Sun of righteousness. 
From these stations shall emanate a light waxing 
brighter and brighter. Fed by Christian zeal and 
fanned by Christian prayers, they shall burn with an 
intenser heat ; they shall diffuse a more resplendent 
lustre, until at length the millenial day shall dawn, 
and over all the earth at once, shall the glory of the 
Lord arise. 

Brethren, did we not pity the Heathen—did we 
consider only the weal of the church at home, we 
should still do this! It is not to be denied that the 
wants of this church, pressing though they be, are 
unsupplied. It is not to be denied that Episco- 
palians, with wealth enough, and talent enough, and 
I trust, liberality enough, still leave their Zion to 
languish and mourn. And why is this? Why, but 
because the spirit of Christian beneficence has not 
been duly awakened? Why, but because the hearts 
of our men of wealth have not been opened and en- 
larged? Why, but because our youth and our 
matrons have not been taught the words of the 
Lord Jesus, how he said—it is more blessed to 
give than to receive ?>—But how shall this lesson be 
_ taught? How shall the understandings of our people 


24 


be roused to a perception of the greatness of this 
emergency? How shall their hearts be touched 
with an adequate sense of its claims, and their 
hands opened to supply them? My friends, had 
you a selfish child; a child, whose sensibilities 
seemed extinct or locked in torpid and death-like 
slumber, you would be at no loss for an expedi- 
ent to awaken them! You would take that child 
to some spot where there was the most affecting 
exhibition of suffering; suffering in which was 
combined all that is best fitted to move a young 
and thoughtless heart. The spectacle which you 
would select would be one in which the nature of 
the suffering was evident 3; its causes most intelligi- 
ble and the means of its relief most palpable. You 
would bid him look on the heart-rending detail, and 
you would feel that if one spark of humanity, of be- 
nevolence, slumbered in his bosom, it must be kin- 
dled there. Do the same in the case before you. 
Take these minds, so heedless of the spiritual wants 
of their own countrymen, and open before them the 
wants of the Pagan! Show them man’s condition 
when forsaken of all pure religion and left to grovel 
in absolute polytheism. Show them his intellect 
degraded ; his heart embruted ; his life the prey of 
fierce and tormenting passions, and his death a seene 
of unbroken darkness and dismay ! Think younot that 
they will feel?—Then show them the gospel entering 
this den of darkness and pollution! Show them how 
beneath its influence the intellect is ennobled; the 
heart purified; woman reinstated in her rightful rank; 


25 


and the domestic circle made to bud and bloom rith 
all the charities of life; and think you not that then 
estimate of this gospel will rise? Think you not 
that an irresistible impulse to dispense to these be- 
nighted and distant lands, blessings so glorious, will 
seize their hearts? And when it has seized them ; 
when this impulse has taken full possession of the 
soul, think you that it will be directed only to distant 
lands? While brooding over the sufferings of the Idol- 
ator, shall these hearts look with cold—with re- 
luctant eye on the necessities of kinsmen and friends? 
Believe it who can! 

In calling then, upon my friends, my fellow-church- 
men, to come forth and enlist in this enterprise, I ap- 
peal not merely to their love of Christ; I appeal 
not merely to their love of those for whom Christ 
died. I appeal to their love of self; to their love of 
their own church. Do they venerate that Zion, 
within whose pale their lines have fallen? Do they 
daily pray to Heaven that prosperity may be within 
her palaces? Would they labour and toil to make 
her the joy and praise of the whole earth? Let them 
supplicate—let them excite—let them foster the spi- 
rit of missions! Duty apart ; if they look not with pe- 
culiar sympathy upon its objects; if they doubt wheth- 
er the gospel enjoins it ; if they regard as more im- 
portant, the extension of their religion at home ; still, 
Isay, let them cherish the spirit of missions! It is the 
power which shall give impulse and momentum to this 
domestic religion. The bread which they cast upon 


the waters shall not go forth simply to bless other lands. 
ji 


7 


26 


long it shall return, infusing life and energy into 


the very vitals of their church. Never was there a 


greater error, than to suppose that this spirit is hos- 
tile to the domestic interests of our Zion. Hostile, 
my friends? is not charity twice blessed? Does it not 
bless them who give, as well as them who take? Is it 
not said, that to them who lend to the Lord, it shall 
be repaid even in this life, an hundred fold? And sup- 
pose we, that this promise extends not to this great 
charity? No; send forth our missionaries ; levy con- 
tributions on every, the feeblest of our churches; ex- 
cite them to feel; let their prayers and alms ascend 
in one cloud before the throne ; andif there be truth, 
I say not in the Bible ; but if there be truth in the 
nature of man, there shall come back a shower of 
blessings to fertilize and make glad this city of our 
God. 

When—fathers, brethren ; when shall we awake to 
this momentous truth? Denominations around us re 
cognise it, and the effect is seen in their rapid exten- 
sion; their consolidating strength. The effect is 
seen in their fraternal zeal; their concentrated ac- 
tion ; their noble and generous benefactions. When 
then, shall we emulate their example? When shall 
this chureh of our affections; this church with her 
primitive institutions ; her sublime and pathetie Lit- 
urgy ; her simple, but majestic ceremonies, rise and 
gird herself with strength, and go forth conquering 
and to conquer? When shall she feel in all its em- 
phasis that the vows of God are upon her ; that it be- 
hooves her to come behind in no enterprise of love; 


27 


and that in those movements now making, for the re- 
novation of the world, her place is in the very van. 
Yes, the day—Lord, let it come quickly; the day 
when she shall shake herself from the dust, and re- 
new her strength as eagles, and run and not be wea- 
ry ; when her sons with hearts knit together as the 
heart of one man, shall gather round the standard of 
the cross, and going forth to the ends of the earth, 
shall convey thither peace as a river, and the glory 
of redemption as a flowing stream ; when, [ ask, shall 
that day arrive? Let it but come ; let us but once 
see its light ;-and if we mistake not, there are signs 
of its approach—let us but once behold its glory : 
and we do believe that this glory is not distant,—Let 
us but once gaze upon its brightness ; and if we mis- 
interpret not the events of this day,* it is just bursting 
upon us—and then—Lord, let thy servants depart in 
peace ; for their eyes will have seen thy salvation ! 
~ 


* The board had just closed an annual meeting, distinguished by uncommon zeal 
and unanimity. 


APPENDIX. 


To those who have not maturely considered the claims of For- 
eign Missions, the author would respectfully submit the following 
facts and observations. They are not new, but as they illustrate 
certain positions taken in the Discourse, he would ask for them a 
candid and deyout examination. 


A. 


An unfortunate distinction is often made between doing justice 
and doing good, as if the obligation of the one were peremptory, 
and that of the other optional ; as if it were necessary to be honest, 
but a matter of free choice whether we should be charitable. It 
is true, that “‘a man should be just before he is generous,” for the 
obvious reason, that he has no right to be generous with what is 
not his own. But if by this adage it is meant that to be just is 
sufficient, and that to be generous is a matter of supererogation, 
nothing can be more unfounded. These two classes of duty have 
ultimately the same basis, the will of God. If he commands us 
to “render to all their due,” so does he command us to be “ kind 
one to another ;”’ and no one, therefore, who admits that God has a 
right to dictate, can doubt that according to his ability he is bound 
to “do good to all men as he has opportunity.” 


B. 
The social and moral condition of Pagans. 


A gentleman, resident for several years in India, informs me 
that within halfa mile of his own dwelling, he could, at almost 
any moment, have found living exemplifications of all the crimes 


29 


enumerated, Rom. i. 21—32, ii. 10—20. And to the same 
effect is the testimony of all impartial observers. 

_ Says Governor Holwell, for some time Governor General of In- 
dia, and no friend of christianizing its population, “‘ the Gentoos, in 
general, are as dangerous and wicked a people as any race of peo- 
ple in the known world, if not eminently more so, especially the 
common run of Brahmins. We can truly aver, that during almost 
five years that we presided in the judicial cutcherry Court of Cal- 
cutta, never any murder or other atrocious crime was committed, 
but it was proved in the end that a Brahmin was at the bottom 
of it.” 

Says Lord Clive, also at one time Governor of India; “‘ The 
inhabitants of this country, we know by long experience, have no 
attachment to any obligation.— See Chr. Observer, Vol, XI. p. 263. 

Says Lord Teignmouth, speaking of the same people, “‘ Individ- 
uals have little sense of honour, and the nation is wholly void of 
public virtue. To lie, steal, plunder, ravish or murder, are not 
deemed sufficient crimes to merit expulsion from society.””—WSee 
Parliamentary Proceedings against Mr. Hastings, Appendix to 
Vol. IT. . 

Says Sir James Mackintosh, in a charge which he made to the 
Grand Jury of Bombay, in 1803, ‘If I had not come to India, I 
could not have credited the depravity which I find to be prevalent 
among the natives’—and in the report of a case tried before him 
at the same place, where it appeared that a female witness had 
been detected in committing perjury, it is stated, that being asked 
whether she did not deem such an offence to be extremely enor- 
mous, she answered, that “‘she understood that the English so 
regarded it, but that it was thought nothing of in her country.””— 
See Asiatic Register for 1805. 

Says the Abbe Dubois, an enemy to Missions, “ sincere mutual 
friendship is rarely to be found in Hindoo families,”—‘‘ Women are 
regarded as slaves, and treated on all occasions with severity and 
contempt.” Parental authority is but little respected,’”—“* Hindoo 
children fear their father while they are young, from dread of be- 
ing beaten—but from their tenderest years they use bad lan- 
guage to their mother, and strike her, even without any apprehen- 
sion, and when they are grown up, the father himself is no longer 
respected. As they grow up, incontinence and its attendant vices 
increase with them; indeed the greater part of their institutions, 
religious and civil, appear to be contrived for the very purpose of 
nourishing and stimulating the lowest passions of our nature. 
The stories of the dissolute life of their gods, the abominable allu- 
sions which many of their daily practices always recall, their pub- 
lic and private monuments, on which nothing is ever represented 
but the most wanton obscenity ; their religious rites, in which pros- 


30 


titutes act the principal parts; all these causes, and others that 
might be named, necessarily introduce among the Hindoos the ut- 
most dissoluteness of manners.—See Dubois “ Description, &c.” 
Vol. I. p. 209, 265—6, 206—7. 

“It is nothing uncommon,” says the same author, “ to see a 
man taking vengeance for an offence offered many years before to 
his father, or his grandfather.” ‘The feelings of pity, as far as 
respects the sufferings of others, never enter into his heart, (a 
Brahmin’s)—He will see an unhappy being perish on the road, or 
even at his own gate, if he belong to another caste, and will not 
stir to give him a drop of water, though it were to save his life.— 
See Dubois, Vol. I. p. 264—274. 

For the estimation in which woman is held, even by their sa 
cred books, read the following, as laid down in The Institutions of 
Menu. ‘‘ Women,” he says, “ possess six qualities—first, an inordi- 
nate desire for finery—second, immoderate lust—third, violent 
anger—fourth, deep resentment—fifth, malignant envy—sixth, ir- 
regular, vicious conduct.’”’ Bernier, one of the earlier travellers in 
India,affirms, (and his accounts are corroborated by modern writers, ) 
that at the suétees or immolations of women on the funeral pile of 
their husbands, of which there are now not less than ten thousand 
eases annually, the widow, instead of devoting herself voluntarily, as 
is often said, is goaded to it by the dread of scorn and misery; that if 
on approaching the pile, she wishes to withdraw the consent she has 
given, she is not allowed to do so; that she is often actually bound 
down upon the pile, and that in other cases, Brahmins may be seen 
forcing her to ascend it, and pushing her into the mass of flame 
with long poles, while her agonizing shrieks are drowned by the 
noise of drums, and the savage shouts of the surrounding multitude. 
He adds too, that these sacrifices are made with none of the so- 
lemnity which we might expect to accompany a religious rite. 
indecent mirth and levity, are its constant accompaniments, and 
the nearest relations of the sufferer—the very son, who with his own 
hand kindles the pile, are seen talking with gaiety and unconcern. 
—Scee Voyages de Bernier, also Chris. Obs. Vol. XT. p. 422, 491. 

We may be allowed to—quote one or two remarks from Bishop 
Hieber. “The religion of the Hindoos,”’ says he, ‘is indeed a 
horrible one, far more so than I had conceived; it gives them no 
moral precepts ; it encourages them in vice by the style of its cere- 
monies, and the character given of its deities ; and by the institu- 
tions of caste, it hardens their hearts against each other toa de- 
gree which is often most revolting. A traveller falls down sick in 
the streets of a village, (I am mentioning a fact which happened 
ten days ago,) nobody knows what caste he is of, therefore, no- 
body goes near him lest they should become polluted; he wastes 
to death before the eyes of a whole community, unless the jackals 


31 


take courage from his helpless state to finish him a little sooner ; 
and perhaps, as happened in the case to which I allude, the chil- 
dren are allowed to pelt him with stones and mud. The man of 
whom I am speaking, was found in this state, and taken care of 
by a passing European ; but if he had died, his skeleton would have 
lain in the streets till the vultures carried it away, or the magis- 
trates ordered it to be thrown into the river. A friend of mine, 
some months ago, found a miserable wretch, a groom, out of em- 
ploy, who had crept, sick of a dysentery, into his court yard. He 
had there remained in a corner on the pavement, two days and 
nights ; perhaps twenty servants had been eating their meals daily, 
within six yards of him, yet none had relieved him, none had so 
much as carried him into the shelter of one of the outhouses, nor 
had any taken the trouble to tell their master. When reproved 
for this, their answer was, ‘‘ He was not our kinsman ;” ‘‘ Whose 
business was it?”? ‘‘ How did we know that the sahib would like 
to be troubled 1”? Again he says, “‘ The magistrates and lawyers 
all agree, that in no country are lying and perjury so common and 
so little regarded. Notwithstanding the apparent mildness of 
their manners, the criminal calendar is generally filled with gang- 
robberies, &c. &c. and the number of children who are decoyed 
aside and murdered for the sake of their ornaments, Lord Amherst 
assures me is dreadful. Besides this, in one province, ‘‘ pride, 
poverty, and avarice, are in league to destroy the greater part of 
the female infants. It is a disgrace for a noble family to have a 
daughter unmarried, and still worse to marry her to a person of 
inferior birth, while they have neither the means nor the inclina- 
tion to pay such portions as a person of their own rank would ex- 
pect to receive from them! On the other hand, the sacrifice of a 
child, is believed, surely, with truth, to be acceptable to the “ evil 
powers ;” and the fact is certain, that though the highborn Raj- 
poots have many sons, very few daughters are ever found in their 
palaces.” “Through the influence of Major Walker, many in- 
fants were spared, but since his time, things have gone on very 
much in the old train; and the answer made by the chiefs to any 
remonstrances of the British officers is, ‘‘ Pay our daughters’ mar- 
riage portion and they shall live.” Yet these very men, rather 
than strike a cow, would submit to the cruellest martyrdom. 
Never may my dear wife and daughters forget how much their sex 
is indebted to Christianity |’? “ Still,’’ he says, in another place, 
“of the natural disposition of the Hindoo, I see abundant reason to 
think highly. All that is bad about them appears to arise either 
from the defective motives which their religion supplies, or the 
wicked actions which it records of their gods, or encourages in 
their own practice. Yet zt is strange to see, though this is gener- 
ally allowed, how slow men are to admit the advantage or necessity 


32 


ef propagating Christianity among them.—See Heber’s Travels, 
Vol. I. p. 236— Vol. I. p. 69, 235, 240. a heie 

2. Of the Sandwich Islands, (and to the Society Islands the . 
same remarks would have applied,) Mr. Stewart, the intelligent 
and accomplished Missionary writes, ‘‘Scarce.a day passes in 
which we are not most painfully reminded that we dwell among 
the habitations of cruelty. We have been much grieved this eve- 
ning by seeing the attendants of the young prince stoning a Juna- 
tic on the beach. It is the customary way of treating such objects 
throughout the Islands, and the manner in which they here, usu- 
ally, terminate a wretched existence. Kaikioeva sent a messen- 
ger to reprove them, and bid them desist from their inhuman 
sport, not, however, till by the barbarous practice, the poor crea- 
ture was much bruised and lamed. The afflicted and the deformed 
_ of every class are objects of ridicule and contempt, if not, as in this 
case, of persecution. The helpless and dependent, whether from 
age or sickness, are often cast from the habitations of their rela- 
tives and friends, to languish and to die unattended and unpitied. 
An instance recently came to our knowledge, in which a poor 
wretch thus perished within sight of our dwelling, after having 
lain uncovered for days and nights in the open air, most of the 
time pleading in vain to his family, still within the hearing of his 
voice, for a drink of water. And when he was dead, his body, in- 
stead of being buried, was merely drawn so far into the rushes, as 
to prevent the offence that would have arisen from the corpse, and 
left a prey to the dogs who prowl through the district im the 
night ! 
. But the truth of the Apostle’s description of the heathen, that 
they are without natural affection, implacable, and unmerciful, is 
found most fully here in the prevalence of the abhorrent and tre- 
mendous crime of infanticide. We have the clearest proof, that in 
those parts of the Islands where the influence of the Mission has 
not yet extended, two thirds of the infants born, perish by the 
hands of their own parents before attaining the first or second year 
of their age. ‘The very period, when the infant of a christian 
mother is to her the object of intense solicitude, and of the deep- 
est anxiety—in times of sickness, suffering, and distress, times at 
which the affections of the parental bosom are brought into the 
most painful exercise, are those when the mother here, feels that in 
her child she has a care and a trouble which she will not endure ; 
and instead of searching into the causes of its sorrow or attempt- 
ing to alleviate its pains, she stifles its cries a moment with her 
hand—hurries it into a grave already prepared for it, and tramples 
to a level the earth, under which the offspring of her bosom is 
struggling in the agonies of death! As I see, and hear, and learn 
all the abominations and cruelties of a heathen land, my soul often 


33 


melts within me, and I cannot but think how little a majority of 
the inhabitants of Christian countries are ‘aware of the extent of 
their obligations to the gospel, for many of the domestic and social 
blessings they prize most dearly. Happy indeed is the people 
whose God is the Lord! 

And again, “ The whole race are subject, from ignorance and 
superstition, to a bondage of terror. Not only do the eclipse and 
the earthquake, the bursting of a thunderbolt, and the eruptions 
of a volcano, fill them with apprehension and dismay; but to 
them, the darkness of the night is the covert of demons going 
about “seeking what they may devour;’? and the least unusual 
sound that breaks upon its silence, is interpreted into the prowl- 
ings of spirits ready to destroy. As the wind has sighed through 
the tops of the cocoa-nut tree in the silence of the night, or the 
sounds of the surf breaking on the reef have bellowed along the 
shore, I have seen fears gathering on the faces of the natives of 
our household, while with troubled and inquisitive look and half 
suppressed breath, they have exclaimed, ‘a god—an evil god”— 
and the simple and plaintive notes of an Eolian harp, fixed in the 
window of the Mission house at Oahu, had such an effect on the 
mind of an Islander belonging to the establishment, although the 
cause of the sounds had been explained to him, that it was neces- 
sary to remove the instrument, because he could not sleep ! 

“Jan. 16, 1824.—Last night there was a beautiful and almost 
total eclipse of the moon. We had just retired to rest, when an 
alarm was given by the natives. Loud and lamentable wailings 
were heard in various directions, while the half suppressed and 
plaintive murmurings of those who with hurried footsteps passed 
to and fro, gave indications of something new and melancholy. 
Hearing a voice in our yard, I inquired the cause of the agitation, 
and was answered, that “ the people thought the king was dead, be- 
cause the moon was dark.” Considerable numbers had gathered 
round our fence; we heard nothing but the exclamations, ‘‘ the 
moon is sick, very sick,”—‘‘ an evil moon—evil indeed,” —“ the 
gods are eating the moon,’’—uttered in tones of deep anxiety and 
distress. All agreed in considering it an omen of great calamity 
to the nation. The king had died at sea, or would soon die—or 
the prince, princess, one of the queens,” (polygamy was universal) 
“or some member of the royal family would soon die—for the 
moon had formerly appeared just so before the death of several 
great chiefs! The whole circumstance forcibly brought to mind 
the appropriate and prophetic lines, 

“<< They dread thy glittering tokens Lord, 
When signs in heaven appear ; 


But they shall learn thy holy word, 
And love as well as fear.”’ 
[See Stewari’s Journal, p. 184, 197—Also Turnbull’s “ Voyage round the 
World in the years 1800, 1, 2,3 & 4.”*] 
i= 
5 


34 


3. Of the Aborigines of our own continent, Dr. Rush declares 
on the authority of such travellers as Charlevoix, Henneper, Carv- 
er, &c. that uncleanness, treachery, cruelty, and drunkenness, are 
almost universal among them.—Sce Rush’s Essays, p. 257. 

To the same effect are the following testimonies of a late writer, 
who enjoyed the most ample opportunities of learning their cus- 
toms. As traits common to the Western Indians, he mentions 
among others, that,—‘‘ As persons of either sex approach the 
state of superannuation, the respect of their family and acquaint- 
ance is withdrawn from them, and they are finally regarded as 
useless burdens upon the community, and subjected to the uncen- 
sured pranks and ridicule of the young. When the aged become 
helpless on a march, and the transporting of them is attended with 
difficulty, they are abandoned to their fate.” Again, ‘ Falsehood 
and fraud are extremely common among them; and as to stealing, 
they even pray that they may be made expert in it; boast of their 
success in it when recounting their exploits, and expect to be re- 
warded for it in a future world. The general idea among them is, 
that he who is brave and who provides for his family and friends, 
though he steal, and murder to effect it, isa good man. Giving the 
name of enemies to those they wish to injure, justifies them in 
every act, even of the most enormous kind. They are generally 
friends or enemies as they view it for their interest. For instance, 
if to-day you give them presents, they are your friends; but if 
they think they can procure more, and discover any prospect of 
escaping with impunity, they will to-morrow plunder and murder 
you.”” And again, “ Their reluctance to forgive an injury, is 
proverbial. Injuries are revenged by the injured, and blood for 
blood is always demanded if the deceased has friends who dare to 
retaliate upon the destroyer. Their desire of revenge is not al- 
ways extinguished with the life of the offended individual, but 
sometime descends as an inheritance to his posterity, and quarrels 
are settled long after the parties immediately concerned have be- 
come extinct.—Sce James’ Account of Major Long’s Expedition, 
Vol. I. pp. 257, 238, 240, 155, 288, 317— Vol. I. p. 371. 


C. (See p. 13.) 


Spiritual condition of Pagans. 


The evidence here alluded to is incidental rather than direct. 
In addition to what is detailed in the preceding note, the following 
facts may be mentioned :—Travellers give us mo account of indi- 
vidual Pagans who are pious, while their pictures of the mass are 
pictures of frightful depravity!—Gentlemen with whom I have 
conversed, and who have resided in some cases for years in 


35 


heathen countries, concur with a single exception, in asserting 
that they have known no idolater who could be considered strictly 
conscientious. In the case which is referred to as an exception, 
the gentleman had known one such individual, and but one.— 
Mr. Ward, so many years a missionary in India, declares, (Letters, 
p. 37) “‘ Amidst a pretty large acquaintance with the heathen in 
India, I have never seen one man who appeared to fear God and 
work righteousness.”’ And the researches of modern missiona- 
ries throughout the world are said to have discovered not more 
than five or six! We conclude then, that while every nation may 
have its Nathaniel or Cornelius, these are but exceptions ; and 
that of Pagans generally, it may be said, that they are wilfully de- 
praved, and obstinately impenitent. 

We say wilfully depraved—for we deem it idle to suppose that 
the heathea have no sense of moral obligation, and therefore incur 
no guilt by disregarding it. How is it, if they have no sense of 
moral obligation, that they have established rules of duty, and that 
when these rules are violated to their personal detriment, they are 
SO quick to perceive and resent the injury ? How is it, that Paul 
can say of the Gentiles, that ‘‘ having not the law they are a law 
unto themselves,””—and that “ the invisible things of God, even 
his eternal power and Godhead, from the creation of the world are 
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, so 
that they are without excuse! Yes, the Pagan’s guilt, is wilful, 
and hence, his prospects, unless enlightened by the gospel, are 
“without hope.”’ And can it be, that for men im such a con- 
dition we have no bowels of compassion—that we will make no 
effort for their relief—And yet do we profess and call ourselves 
Christians! ‘ Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his 
spirtt was stirred within him, when he saw the city wholly given to 
idolatry !”” it. ‘ 


D. 


Aggressions committed by Christian nations on the rights and 
happiness of Pagans. 


This subject is too familiar to need illustration—A single case 
may be given as a specimen :—“ When Capt. Cook visited the 
(Sandwich) Islands,” says an able writer, “he found them unus- 
sually productive. Every description of food which they yielded 
was brought to the ships, by order of the chiefs, with a profusion 
which excited his continued surprise. During a period of three 
months, the crews of both ships ate and wasted as much food as 
they wished, they salted great quantities for their subsequent 
voyage, and it was not all consumed when they arrived in Europe. 

“The whole group also seemed exceedingly well peopled. Tauai, 
that which was first discovered, is only thirty-three miles long, 


36 


and twenty-eight broad, containing about five hundred and twenty 
square miles, and yet he computes its inhabitants at thirty thou- 
sand. From the data which he assumed, this would not seem to 
have been above the truth. 

‘The dispositions of the natives towards strangers, were in gene- 
ral peaceful and inoffensive. The affray in which Captain Cook 
was killed, deserves scarcely to be mentioned as an exception to 
this remark. It was the result of a momentary excitement, under 
very considerable provocations, and might have happened in any 
harbour of Christendom. 

‘* With regard to their moral character, not so much can be said. 
Infanticide was not considered as a crime. Human sacrifices 
were very common. Before the commencement of a war, at the 
sickness or death of a chief, and we know not on how many other 
occasions, from one to ten victims were sacrificed. ‘ Every ap- 
pearance induced the Commodore to believe that this inhuman 
practice was very general here.* 

‘¢Tn all that respects the domestic relations, their moral charac- 
ter was as deplorable as can well be imagined. The connubial 
tie was dissolved at pleasure, if indeed any thing deserving of that 
name existed. Marriages between persons of the nearest blood 
relation are still common. 

‘© Taumu-arii or king Tamoru, as he is commonly called, and his 
son, were both, and at the same time, husbands to one of the wi- 
dows of Tameha-meha. Captain Cook remarks of the females, 
that ‘they could scarcely be prevented from coming on board, 
and they were less reserved than any women we had ever 
seen. 

‘‘ Such was the moral condition of these savages, when they were 
first visited by about one hundred and eighty individuals, of a 
Christian nation. It surely is not impertinent or unreasonable to 
inquire what was the result of this visit, and what benefits were 
conferred upon these unenlightened but hospitable heathen, by the 
representatives of the most intelligent and virtuous people in 
Christendom. What efforts were made to do away the horrid 
rites of human sacrifices ? What was done to check the licentiow’- 
ness which every where prevailed ? What was said to teach them 
that their religious notions were absurd and abominable ? In what 
arts of civilization were they instructed? In a word, in what sin- 
gle respect were they made wiser, or happier, or better, by the 
residence, during three or four months, of so many men, so much, 
at least in intellectual cultivation, their acknowledged supe- 
riors 2 


* Cook’s Voyages, 8 vo. vol. 2d, p. 142. 


37 


“The present age will not wonder, but we hope that an age is 
coming which will not only wonder, but weep to hear, that to all 
these questions the answer is nothing, absolutely nothing. So far 
from attempting to do away human sacrifices, Captain Cook himself 
was present, once at least, during this ceremony, quietly looking 
on. Instead of teaching them a better religion, he suffered them 
to offer him solemn, and as far as they knew, divine homage, thus 
giving his highest sanction to their abominable rites. In the place 
of inculeating purity, there is no reason to doubt, that the whole 
crews were surrendered up to a license as debasing and shameless 
as that of the savages themselves. In fine, we look in vain 
throughout the whole of captain Cook’s narrative, for the remotest 
indication that, either by officer or by crew, a single mechanical 
art was taught to the healthy, or a single medicine exhibited 
to the sick. Nay, not only was this not done ; we have no man- 
ner of evidence that it was ever thought of. All that these Chris- 
tians did, was to go and look on. 

“‘ We have seen what the first Europeans did not do for the Sand- 
wich Islands. If it be asked, what they actually did for them, 
truth compels us to answer, that, setting aside the efforts which 
missionaries have made for their benefit, it has rarely, in the his- 
tory of our species, occurred, that one man has been the means of 
entailing upon a numerous and unoffending people, so grievous 
and aggravated a curse, as was entailed by Captain Cook, upon 
these very Islanders. A part of this mischief was the direct 
consequence of his visit; the rest, the indirect result of his 
discovery. 

“We have mentioned the universal licentiousness of the crews of 
the discovery ships. The consequence of this licentiousness, was 
the introduction of a disease among the natives, the peculiar 
shame of civilization, which, with its train of horrid concomitants, 
has ever since been sending them by hundreds to the grave, and 
with which thousands are at this moment languishing in almost 
every island in the group. 

“This was the effect of a single visit. But Captain Cook pointed 
out their location to the world, and they soon became to ships 
traversing the North Pacific, a place of general resort for under- 
going repair, for obtaining water and other refreshments. As 
many as one hundred vessels, in a single year, have entered the 
harbour of Honoruru. The effects of this intercourse we will 
now briefly consider. 

“To go into particulars, will not however be necessary. We 
have already alluded to the licentious manners of the natives. 
We have only to consider that these islands are separated by a 
voyage of twelve thousand and eighty miles from the civilized 
world; that there the restraints of society had not the shadow of 


38 


existence ; that every one who went there, was bound by a sort of 
professional obligation to keep the secrets of his associates; and 
also let us remember what are the habits of our seamen in our 
own ports, under all the restraints of society, and every one may 
form for himself a tolerably accurate estimate of what was, for 
many years the standard of their morality. ‘They were a public 
brothel for every vessel that floated on the bosom of the Pacific. 
They were the resort of men, whose vice was too flagrant to be 
endured by respectable connexions in a civilized land. They had 
become a nuisance to the world. Virtue, which had successfully 
resisted the allurements of vice in Great Britain and America, 
here generally yielded to the torrent of overwhelming debauchery. 

The taste for ardent spirits was early introduced, and both se- 
dulously and successfully cherished. The chiefs became univer- 
sally intemperate, and when intoxicated, were in the habit of 
giving away to the most shocking excesses. The reason of this 
was twofold. In the first place, when once a love for intoxicating 
liquor has been created, it may be sold for almost any price; and 
secondly, it has been found by the experience of many an Indian 
treaty, that when savages engage in traffic with civilized men, al- 
cohol is an all-prevalent promoter of those bargains, in which the 
“reciprocity is all on one side.’’ But the Islanders were not left 
to the uncertainty of supply from abroad. A few of the patriots 
from Botany Bay, having learnt that there was one country on 
the face of the earth where law need not be dreaded, found 
the means of escaping thither, and taught these savages the art of 
distillation. 

“ The effects of all this may be very easily conceived. Poverty 
and infanticide and incurable and infectious disease, made fearful 
havoc among the people. The Island of Tau-ai was computed 
by Captain Cook to contain thirty thousand inhabitants; now it 
does not number more than ten thousand. It is probably that a 
diminution in something like the same proportion, has taken 
place in the other Islands. Kaahumanu, the present regent, de- 
clared it as her opinion, that the population of the Island#had 
diminished three fourths since Captain Cook’s visit. The people 
were affirmed by Captain Cook to be neat and cleanly in their 
habitations; now they are, by the acknowledgement of all, most 
deplorably filthy. When first visited their food of every kind was 
in amazing abundance; now, articles of provision are sold at a 
price so high as to be a cause of general complaint; so high, in- 
deed, that the missionaries themselves, have frequently been obli- 
ged to subsist for a considerable time together, on salt beef and 
pork, brought from America, and sea biscuit two or three years 
old, because they did not feel themselves at liberty to purchase 
fresh provisions and vegetables at the price demanded by the 
chiefs.”’-— See Amer. Quar. Rev. No. VI. Art. 3. 


39 


E, F. G. 
The present an era peculiarly propitious to Missions. 
Peculiarly propitious, because— 


1. The facilities for extending them, were at no former period so 
great :—‘‘ Should any be disposed,” says a distinguished writer, 
to insist that our advantages for evangelizing the world, are not to 
be compared with those of the apostolic age, let them reverse the 
scene, and roll back the wheels of time, and obliterate the im- 
provements in science and commerce and arts, which now facili- 
tate the spread of the Gospel. Let them throw into darkness all 
the known portions of the earth, which was then unknown. Let 
them throw into distance the propinquity of nations ; and exchange 
their rapid intercourse for cheerless, insulated existence. Let the 
magnetic power be forgotten, and the timid navigator creep along 
the coasts of the Mediterranean, and tremble and cling to the 
shore when he looks out upon the loud waves of the Atlantic. In- 
spire idolatry with the vigor of meridian manhood, and arm in its 
defence, and against Christianity, all the civilization, and scicnce, 
and mental power of the world. Give back to the implacable Jew 
his inveterate unbelief, and his vantage ground, and disposition to 
oppose Christianity in every place of his dispersion, from Jerusa- 
lem to every extremity of the Roman Empire. Blot out the means 
of extending knowledge, and exerting influence upon the human 
mind. Destroy the Lancasterian system of instruction, and throw 
back the mass of men into a state of unreading, unreflecting ig- 
norance. Blot out libraries, and tracts; abolish Bible and Edu- 
cation and Tract and Missionary Societies ; and send the nations 
for knowledge to parchment, and the slow and limited productions 
of the pen. Let all the improvements in civil government be ob- 
literated, and the world be driven from the happy arts of self 
government to the guardianship of dungeons and chains. Let 
liberty of conscience expire, and the church, now emancipated 
and walking forth in her unsullied loveliness, return to the gui- 
dance of secular policy, and the perversions and corruptions of an 
unholy priesthood. And now reduce the 200,000,000 of nominal, 
and the 10,000,000 of real Christians, spread over the earth, to 
500 disciples, and to twelve Apostles, assembled, for fear of the 
Jews, in an upper chamber, to enjoy the blessings of a secret 
prayer-meeting ; and give them the power of miracles, and the gift 
of tongues, and send them out into all the earth to preach the 
Gospel to every creature !” 

2. Because idolatry was never more feeble :—The religion of 
the Romans, with which the Apostles had to contend, was strong- 
ly imbedded in the passions, prospects, and general influence of 


40 


the government and nobility. The noble might be at once a Priest, © 
and an incumbent of the highest civil offices. This circumstance, 
together with the numbers, the accurate subordination, and the 
immense political influence of the Hierarchy, gave it a considera- 
tion in the eyes of the state altogether unparralleled, and arrayed, 
in its support, an amount of secular power, unknown in any other 
instance. ; i 

Now compare with this, the idolatry at present existing ; an 
idolatry to which the votaries seem attached by few, if any ties of 
interest, and which in many instances, they are found willing to re- 
linquish the moment that fashion or caprice suggests. Witness, 
for example, the Society and Sandwich Islands. Witness Africa, 
where entire tribes are requesting Christian missionaries to be sent 
among them; (see Afric. Repos.) Witness even the south of India, 
where, notwithstanding all that has been said of the impossibility 
of converting Hindoos, whole villages are seen renouncing idola- 
try, and assembling on the Lord’s day for Christian worship ; wit- 
ness, indeed, the whole history of Hindostan. ‘* Its Mahomme- 
dan Conquerors,” says Mr. Douglass, “ have left behind them abun- 
dant traces of the possibility of changing the faith of Hindoos.” 
And farther, “‘ Their religion has frequently changed, without any 
foreign impulsion. The early worship of the elements, has yield- 
ed to the complexity of the Brahminical Polytheism. Polytheism, for 
a time, seemed to bend under the pantheism of the Budhists, and 
then by a new revolution, regained its former ascendancy ; even 
within that Polytheism itself rival sectsare ever rising and decay- 
ing ; and the slightest acquaintance either with the present or past 
state of the Hindoos, may show that the human mind with them has 
not changed its character, or lost its desire of change, and that if it 
is prone to error, it is also prone to novelty. See “ the Advance of 
Society in Knowledge and Religion,” pp. 257—260. 

3. Because experiment has indicated the means, and given pledge 
of the certainty of success :—It issometimes said, and with an air 
of triumph, that modern missions have failed—that nothing has 
been done. To this we might reply, that even had no converts to 
Christianity been made, it would not follow that nothing has been 
done. In every enterprise, time must be consumed M& acquiring 
knowledge and experience, in ascertaining the difficulties to be 
encountered, and the best means of operation; and it will not be 
denied that in this respect at least, the missionary efforts of the 
last forty years have been useful. But have they been useful in 
no other respects ? Has nothing as yet been done for the tempo- 
ral, or spiritual welfare of Pagans? Have no converts been made? 
Let the reader consider the following facts; and then let him an- 
swer whether the enterprise of modern missions is a failure. 


Al 

Missionaries have made valuable accessions to geography, and 
natural science. Says the Geographical Society of Paris, (See 
American Quarterly Review, No. 6, p. 357.) “The minute ac- 
count which the missionaries to the Sandwich Islands have publish- 
ed, respecting this grand phenomena, (the crater) the streams of 
Java, and the changes which have taken place, and also respecting 
the customs and traditions of the people, are equally new and in- 
teresting, and demand the acknowledgement of all who desire the 
advancement of geographical science,” 

They have reduced to system and provided with alphabets and 
written characters, the languages of several barbarous tribes. 

They have translated, andare now translating the scriptures into 
about one hundred different Heathen languages. 

They have collected into schools, “and are now instructing in 
Literature and Religion, at least 190,000 Pagan children. 

They have been the means of circulating in Heathen lands, 
more than two millions of Bibles, and several millions of tracts. 

They have abolished human sacrifices, infanticide, polygamy, 
and their attendant vices and crimes, in numerous and extensive 
districts. 

They have been the means of inducing, at least 300,000 per- 
sons to renounce idolatry, and adopt the usages of Christian, and 
civilized society. 

They have admitted to Christian communion, at least 25,000 
who profess to be sincere disciples of the Saviour. 

They have been permitted to witness during the last moments 
of many of their converts, the most consoling evidence of piety. 


H. 
Condition and prospects of Christianity in the United States. 


In comparing the state of Religion at different periods, it will 
be understood, that we advert mainly to the provisions made for 
maintaining its public ministrations. In the confidence that there is 
no collision between the interests of domestic and foreign missions, 
and that what aids the one, will ultimately tend to aid the other, 
we submit the following particulars in confirmation of the state- 
ments made, p. 21 

In 1768, the population of Massachusetts, was 200,000 ; that 
of all the United Colonies, about 2,225,000. In Massachusetts, 
(having one eighth of the whole population) there were 340 minis- 
ters of the gospel of different denominations, making—if we sup- 
pose other colonies as well supplied —2,720 for the whole, i, e. 
one minister to about every 800 souls; but as this supposition is 
evidently erroneous, we will suppose the number of the clergy else- 
where, in proportion to the population, to be to that in Massachu- 


6 


42 


setts, as 3 to 4; and then we have 2,040 for the whole, or one to 
something like 1,100 persons. en, 

Now compare this state of things with what obtains at present. 
We have at this moment a population of about 12,800,000,; and 
according to the latest returns, less than 8000 labouring ministers, 
or one minister to more than 1600 souls; so that the provisions 
for Christian instruction, are now to what they were in 1768, in the 
ratio of 11 to 16, or 2 to 3; indicating an actual decrease of one 
third Farther, it is commonly reckoned that in the aggre- 
gate“one minister is equal to the care of not more than 1000 souls. 
At this rate, there are 4,800,000 people in the United States, to- 
tally destitute of ministers; and when we consider that im some 
places the clergy are more numerous than the above ratio would 
require, we shall see ample reason to conclude that the destitute a- 
mount to at least 5,000,000. : 

What would be the state of things half a century hence, were 
this decline to continue, we need not say! We are awarethat for 
the few last years, the efforts of American Christians have been 
more proportioned to the wants of their country. But even now 
what are they? Onreferring to the latest returns, we find that in 
1828, not more than 260 persons were admitted to the sacred office— 
of whom 112 were required to supply vacancies which had been oc- 
casioned during the same year, by death and otherwise,—leaving 
only 148 to supply the demand created by the increase of popula- 
tion. But this increase was at the rate of 1000 per day, or 365, 
000 for the whole year; so that 217,000, or three fifths of the 
whole have been left without any provisions for their moral and reli- 
gious instruction ! What a fact for the contemplation of the Chris- 
tian and the Patriot! (see Mein and Fleeming’s Ann. Reg. for 1768. 
Also, the very elaborate and valuable statistical Tables in Quar. 
Jour. of the Amer. Ed. Soc, Nos. 3, 4, 7, 8.) 


JB 
Reflex action of Foreign upon Domestic Missions. 


Among Episcopalians, there is at present no objection to foreign 
missions so common as that which may have been suggested by 
the preceding note. ‘“‘ Ifthe wants of your own country are so 
great, why go abroad?” “ Is it right to give to foreign lands what 
is so much needed by your own?” “ Have not your fellow citizens, 
stronger claims than Pagans ?’’"—Now if these objections have force 
it must be upon the supposition that what is given to foreign mis- 
sions, is so much abstracted from domestic missions. But we de- 
ny this. We venture to affirm, that instead of decreasing, such 
contributions actually tend to increase the fund for domestic purposes 


43 


Would not reason intimate that sympathies which are alive to spi- 
ritual distress afar off, cannot be indifferent to that which is near? 
Would it not intimate still further, that in these distant distresses, 
there are means of arousing Christian sympathy, stronger than in 
any that exists at home? And should we not therefore conclude 
that with zeal for foreign missions will always be coupled zeal for 
domestic, and that without such zeal the cause in all its branch - 
es will be likely to languish 7————But what says experience ! 
She presents us in the first place with the broad fact that those re- 
ligious denominations most engaged in foreign missions, are the 
very denominations who give most liberally to objects of a domes- 
tic nature! She presents us with a second fact, not less decisive, 
viz. that these denominations never began to make such benefac- 
tions to objects at home, tillafter they had embarked in missions 
abroad! And again of individuals, she declares that there is no in- 
stance on record of one who has given munificently to these mis- 
sions, who has not given with equal or greater munificence to the 
support and extension of Christianity in his own country! Instead 
then of assuming that these enterprises are at variance, why not 
rather assume that the one is the efficient auxiliary, if not in some 
cases the moving spring of the other ! 

But even were the fact otherwise ; were it true that what is giv- 
en to one object is at the expense of the other ; it is plain that it 
need not be so. There is wealth enough among American Chris- 
tians for both! To elicit contributions sufficient for all the purpos- 
es of domestic, as well as foreign missions, nothing is needed, but 
that we should feel more strongly that all the gold and silver are 
the Lord’s; and then of course the question recurs whether to 
awaken such feelings, the prosecution of foreign missions is not a 
powerful—nay z¢he most powerful auxiliary ! 

However we go farther, and maintain that whatever be the re- 
sult, though it were inevitable that by supporting missionaries a- 
mong the Heathen, less would be given for supporting them at 
home, we should not esteem it on that account wrong! We do not 
now insist upon the absolute tenor of that commission “ to preach 
the gospel to every creature’””—we rest the question upon general 
considerations. In our private charities we practice upon the 
principle of distribution; we do not bestow all our alms on one 
object ; we deem it greater mercy to relieve the urgent necessities 
of many than to supply the less pressing, though more numerous 
wants of a few. We deem this course best calculated too, to 
strengthen the benevolent principle in our own breast——Now why 
not apply the same rule to the charities of the church? Why ez- 
haust her beneficence on a few, when so many are perishing for 
lack of knowledge ? Why not to a certain extent, admit all to a 
share in her bounty ? In our own land, there are surely none so 


44: 


necessitous as the Heathen, and none therefore who will reap so 
material benefit from a given act of benevolence. While doing 
good then, especially to those of the household of faith, because 
they are especially dependent upon us; let us not forget that if we 
would relieve the greatest amount of misery, and kindle in our 
own hearts the most fervid benevolence, we must also do good ‘to 
all men ;” imitating Him who came and preached peace to them 
that were afar off, as well as to them that were nigh! . 


~ 25 naar, 
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CANDID EXAMINATION OF THE. PROTESTANT 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH, in two letters to a Friend, to which 
is added, a consideration of some popular objections. 

{> About 18,000 copies of the first part of this popular work 
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of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. 

This work has been so many times reprinted in England 
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printed are not known. This work will show where the Church” 
of England Prayer Book differs from ours. 

MEMOIRS OF THE REV. HERBERT MARSHALL, 


a Presbyter of the Protestant Episcopal Church, formerly a Bap- 
tist Minister. Published in aid of the Missionary cause in | Mas- 


sachusetts. 1 Vol. 18mo. £ 

SOUTHEY’S BOOK (HISTORY) OF THE CHURCH, 
2 Vols. 8vo.° 

LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE CONGREGATION. 
AL \;CLERGY . OF MASSACHUSETTS oF EPISCO- 
PACY, by a Congregational Clergyman. ! 

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SERMON, 


PREACHED AT NEW HAVEN, COM 


| AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 


FOREIGN MISSIONS, 


NINTH ANNUAL MEETING, SEPT. 10, 1318- 


BY SAMUEL SPRING, D. D. 
Pastor of the North Congregational Church in Newburyport. 
= 


BOSTON : 
PRINTED BY SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, 
No, 50, CORNHILL, 
1818. 


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SERMON... >. 


Acts’ viii, 30,31. pays 
Onder standest thou what thow readest? And he said, How 
can I, except some man should guide me? 


THUS spake the man, who had the Bible in’ his hand, and 
felt the need of instraction, in order tounderstand it: and In- 
spiration, has given us. this account! because millions of men 
since his day, and in our own times, possess the Sacred Vol- 
ume, butido, not understand its contents, and need able teach- 
ers toexplainit, . re oe Oe 


The story of Philip and the Eunuch is memorable, and in- 
structive, At the time of the martyrdom of Stephen,’ «there 


unto the way that goeth down from, Jerusalem to-Gaza,y which 
is desert, And he arose, and went;’ and he there beheld “a 


man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Can- 
dace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her 


treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to worship,” and was on 


his’ return, sit ing, in his-chariot, and reading Esaias: the 

Prophet. “Then the Spirit said; unto,Philip, Go near, and: 

join ‘thyself to this chariot. And Philip ram thither, and: 

heard him read the Prophet. Esaias;and said unto him,/Un- 
Hope ee eBeopens fd) -ee@iDitvet 7 

dérstandest tow what, thou readest?.And he,said, how dan I, 

exCept some man should guide me?” And he then in an im- 


g 


pressive manner desired Philip to aseend and i th him.- 
Philip readily complied and took a seat with is char- 
iot; and preached unto him Jesus. The happy consequence 
was, that the Treasurer believed in Christ with all his heart, 
and was baptised in Christ’s name: and when the Spirit of the 
Lord caught away Philip, the instructed, the ised, and 
the happy eunuch went on his way rejoicing, Thus God fur- 
nished the Ethiopian Treasurer with the word of life, and 
with an able teacher to-explain it; and graciously prepared 
his heart to embrace the inestimable contents and to.enjoy the 
divine blessing. ‘i us no Qe 


Im the view, therefore, of this ovine of sacred history, ‘Tet 
us, on this missionary occasion, attend to the necessity. and 
advantage of instructing the destitute and the ignorant. For 
man, as Inspiration and fact inform us, is born’ ‘as ignorant of 
divine things as the colt of the wilderness; and ‘will ‘remain 
in this ignorant state, unless favored with needful imstruction, 
ihe human mind needs much cule eine 


Se Ph 
Ww 


1. We shall attend to the wecdeniigt of instructing the 
ignorant, in order that they may iain the ae) of the 
truth. 

; itil 
il The field, which opens belore us, is wide. “For the wd 
nc W contains many millions of inhabitants, who. are eaniads 
of the knowledge of the Scriptures; and we have no evidence, 
that any of the human race have been the subjects y holiness, 
onetet those who have gave” the sg ft astre 


een 


operations. And the itn course of ‘ieee oti, 
tions continued till God had completed the system of Ins gn “f 


tion. When God had revéaled ‘the contents of he tau la: 
which we have now in our’: hands, his ‘miraculous. ope : 
ceased, The day of miracles is past, God has’ given U5 all 


NOGs 


5 


> 


thé means of instruction, which he intends to furnish, until he 
shall descend in the great day of. decision to consummate his 
design in creation. More miracles we have no reason to ex- 
pects and it is now the duty of Christians and especially of 
Christ’s ministers to instruct the ignorant, both by supplying 
them with the Scriptures, and by explaining their precious 
contents. Except we adopt and faithfully pursue these meas- 
ures, we have no more reason to expect to see the destitute, 
the ignorant, and the heathen, enlightened, than we have to 
expect to see the earth loaded with rich crops of grain while 
we wholly neglect to plow and sow and plant our fields. 
Means and ends are connected; and we have no reason to ex- 
pect the possession of any valuable object, unless we use 
ees means to secure it. 


Tt is obit of grateful record, that thousands and thou- 
sands of persons have fatily: contributed largely to 
supply the destitute with the Scriptures upon the condition, 
that they pass.into their hands without note or comment; and 
we have reason to believe, that they would have withholden 
their contributions upon any other principle. It surely is de- 
sirable to see the indigent and the destitute supplied with the 
Bible. But, how small is the prospect of advantage to the 
most ignorant class of men, if we supply them with the Word 
of Life, but do not furnish them with Missionaries to explain 
it. Destitute of religious teachers, men naturally feel little 
interest in the written Word, and sink down into stupidity and 
neglect of divine things. The Sacred Volume expounds 
itself to those, who are in a measure qualified to explain it; 
but to the ignorant, it is far otherwise, and is full of mys- 
terious and dark sayings. It was pleasant to Philip to hear the 
Treasurer ‘reading the Prophet;’ and it was more pleasant 
to be properly requested to take a seat in his chariot, that he 
might have opportunity to explain the Prophet to one, who 
would not otherwise comprehend him. For he felt qualified 
to unfold the contents of the Inspired Volume, and to instruct 
the inquisitive Ethiopian. Philip administering instruction 
and the: Eunuch receiving instruction, resembled apples of 


6 : 
gol in pictures of silver. If the attentivea 
is transacted here on earth, it was a oes 
The Eunuch, who was ravished with the Gos og, 
which Philip unfolded, would gratefully” retained hig 
company in the chariot. But having» emb: hr 
received the beter of his faith in savage 


faith had seen the Savior “ina received his éo 
token. Blessed by the Lord, who has the h 
his hand, he was qualified for a useful missionary 
ignorant brethren; to whom he A comme gave mu 
instruction. Sa 


By this signal instance of the necessity and ‘ati 
pel instructions we are led into a imiosk: extensi @ fre J. 


which he adopts with individuals, he stelle 
with tribes and nations, and the ignorant world. 
he enlightens, he convinces, and converts sinners from 


falatslat 
holiness; and | iinkgee or Missionaries are his. pr’ 


aries of the cross: «How beautiful upon the mou 
the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, th L 
peace, that publisheth salvation; that saith, unto 
God reigneth.” Christ himself, the Great Minister of G 
grace, and the fountain of light, while with divine comp 
surveying the wide field of the world already, white 1 
harvest, directs his disciples to pray. the Lord of the oe 
to send forth faithful laborers into his harvest, - 
when he sent forth his disciples, as sheep among. wo 
teach all nations, the necessity of Missionaries, ii 
effect the pevation of sinners. ‘This God is: the 


cause of regener aii; yet he prepares the way fol ‘the salvas 


tion of sinners, by his nuliriatray his missionaries, or agents) 


7 


God does nof operate alone. Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the. 
prophets and the apostles have been his agents; and he still em- 


_ ploys his ministers. and missionaries in the wide field of the 


world, anan instance be named by any of the best inform- 
ed children of God, of the salvation of sinners, or even of an 
individual sinner, previously to his possessing a share of men- 
tal information? Suppose a family, er tribe of ignorant 
pagans, who dwell in the habitations of cruelty, to be now 
supplied with the Scriptures, in their own vernacular tongue, 
but to be left destitute of teachers to explain the Scriptures 
to them; and what would be the consequence, but their contin- 
ued ignorance of their precious contents? They would remain 
pagans still; and their descendants would imitate their igno- 
rant and barbarous course of life. To them the Bible is a 
sealed book, and comparatively useless. And this is but the 
lamentable picture of the whole human race, upon the prin- 
ciple of their being left by God destitute of teachers. Alas, 
how dismal the consideration. The present ignorant state 
of five or six hundred millions of our fellow-creatures, is but 
an example of the whole human race, except upon the princi- 
ple of their possessing the means of instruction, with which 
God has favored the world by the patriarchs, prophets and 
apostles, and missionaries, who have been appointed to teach 
their ignorant brethren. And hence the language of the 
inspired apostle, who was raised up in a special manner to 
exhibit the established connexion between the preaching of the 
Gospel and the salvation of sinners: “For whosoever shalt 
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” ‘Then he in- 
terrogates, and introduces the doctrine under consideration. 
‘“‘How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not 
believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they 
have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 
And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is 
written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the 
Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things?” 
This instruction, which we have both from the mouth of the 
inspired prophet and the apostle, is peculiar. Men must 
pray: they must consequently believe; they must of course. 


hear, and must also have apreacher. Thus Got 
a uniform manner; and he is under no ou igation 
cious sovereign to step aside from his usual, esta ali she 
of proceeding, to save sinners. For instance, if there are any 

of his elect amid the dark tribes of Ethiopia, he can ¢ | them 
hither in slave ships to embrace the Gospel, though in j rt 

ment to slave-traders, who buy and sell the souls of men; but _ 
in infinite mercy to the poor, oppressed slaves whom | he makes 
Christ’s free men. And with facility, as he is now graciously 
conducting, he can send missionaries to Africa, and convert 
Ethiopians upon their own native ground. The Lord is won- 
derful in counsel, and excellent in working. Many of the 
black tribes of Africa, we cannot but believe God will clothe _ 
with salvation. And when heshall make up his jewels in the Ms 
glorious day of consummation, we expect to see them shine 1M 
brightly in the crown of the Prince of Peace. For God, wha — 
has graciously promised the blessing, is faithful and able to 
fulfil his promise. His word will not return unto him voi 

but will accomplish the gracious intention of his heart. Buty 


II. Having attended to the necessity of supplying the 
ignorant part of our race with able teachers to instruct them 
to understand the Scriptures, which are able to make them 
wise unto salvation; let us now attend to the advantage, to 
the utility, of this course of proceeding. We can i 
no doubt, that the course, which God has established for the 
benefit of man, is full of motives to induce us to practise 
accordingly with the greatest diligence and confidence. But 
we wish to take a review of the success with which this course 
of Providence has been crowned during the past poriada wi the — 
world. a , 

Py ‘ #34 & 

We then ask, in the view of the desperate depravity, which 
has seized the hearts of men, and has blinded their minds, 
what would have been the fact relative to the ignorance of the 
early ages of men, if they had not been favored with the 
instructions of the pious patriarchs? The human race, pre- 
viously to the deluge, were exceedingly wicked and ignorant 


9 


of God; but what would have been their increased ignorance 
- of God, if the world had been destitute of those holy patri- 
archs, Abel, Seth, and Enoch and others, who then had their 
residence in the midst of it? For they certainly shone as 
stars of the first magnitude, and could not but impress their 
cotemporaries with a degree of knowledge respecting the 
Author of the universe. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and 
other able instructors, who lived after the flood, were the faiths 
ful agents in the hand of God, who taught their fellow men, 
with whom they dwelt, the character of the Great Jehovah. 
And if the world had been destitute of such pious teachers, we 
have reason to conclude, that nothing but Atheism would have 
prevailed. We can be at no loss, when we review the conduct 
of Israel, into what increased ignorance of God and divine 
things, they would have fallen, if Moses and Aaron and Caleb 
and Joshua had not vindicated the character of God so fully 
before them. It is said of Israel, that they served the Lord 
during the days of Jushua and the Elders, who outlived. 
Joshua, who had seen the wonderful operations of the Lord. 
But, that they soon, upon the death of those eminent teachers 
and exemplars, plunged intothe depth of the mostshameful idol- 
atry. We all remember the pious influence of Gideon, Samuel, 
Elijah and Elisha, and the religious influence of David, and 
the good kings amid that nation, which the Lord blessed with 
special advantages. We have still in memory the influence 
of the major and minor prophets, who faithfully taught the 
Jews to walk in the way which God had pointed out by the 
Spirit of Inspiration. In a word, when we impartially review - 
the gracious administration of God toward the Jews, we can- 
not but confess, that the peculiar blessings, which he confer- 
red upon them were communicated by those, who were ap- 
pointed to teach them. God taught his agents the prophets, 
and they taught the people to walk ia his ways. 
2 
Tf we now descend with the current of time to the period of 
John the Baptist, and to Christ himself, the Prime Teacher of 


‘men, we shall be constrained to confess, that it was the adopt- 
2 


e 1d ’ He he ores, 4 
ed course of Providence to bless the world b | 
aries or teachers. Christ was a Teac bi 
best, the most able of all teachers; and he chose hi 
and Leap them to instruct the i ol He 


ae were crowned in the course of afew jensen Christ? 
ascension, is astonishing. They went forth like lambs among 
wolves, tigers, and lions, with theip lives i in ) their. ha nds, and 


of afew years the temples of idolatry were inden 
prostrated. Proud idolaters were compelled by the 3 
grace of God to bow before the preaching of i 
Christ. The change was great in Greece and Rome. € 
himself reigned and swayed the peaceful sceptre of his ki 
dom, where the adversary had long held his seat: of t rranny 
ever the hearts and minds of men. For ample eo 
this statement of facts, L refer you to the Scriptures, styled 
The Acts of the Apostles, and to the most instructive Epistles 
to the several churches which they had formed. These parts 
of the Sacred Volume are full of ample motives to boat us 
to spare no pais or expense in furnishing mi aie 
to the ignorant and to teach them the bes of eternal | ss Fi 
oY 

If we now descend from the inspired ‘og i ers, 
who have had no claim to inspiration, motives will present 
themselves, which will induce Christ’s ministers to be faithful 
still. What was the influence which effected ‘the reformation 
from popery? Surely God effected it. . But not cae 
concurrence of human agents. Wickliffe, Zui 
and Calvin were God’s agents; they were his fait 
aries. hey in the midst of danger taught their i gm orar 


and ibe ace the simplicity of Gospel practice. fi 

were successful. ‘They, under the guidance of grace, caused 
a reformation. They extricated not only themselves, but 
thousands of others from the imposition _ oppression of 


Li 


papal yoke. The adversary was angry and gnashed his teeth 
them and attempted to destroy them, but in vain, They 
vere kept safe in the hollow of their heavenly Father’s hhand- 
Since the blessed seasen of the reformation from popery, 
rey has been impressive evidence of the utility of mission- 
ary exertions. 1 refer tothe Elots, the Mayhews and the 
Brawerds of our own land, and to Swartz, Vanderkemp, and 
Buchanan and others, who kate made such inroads upon Sa-. 
tan ’s territory in Asia and Afri ica. Ln those benighted quar- 
ters of the globe great things. have been effected within, the 
course of a few years. And it appears, that a foundation is 
Jaid for the accomplishment. of more glorious:events. We are 
induced to believe, that by the agency of his. ‘missionaries, 
God has planted his standard in the, midst, of these . dark 
regions, over which Satan has long swayed, in an undisturbed 
manner, his oppressive and most destructive sceptre. O Lord, 
how long before these extensive regions shall, be occupied by 
the church of Christ! For thou hast promised thatthe meek 
shall inherit the earth. Is not the period at.hand?., , ; 


Further, have we not encouraging ote es, relative to the 
labors of missionaries, from our brethren, whovare now placed 
among the savages of America? For they are received by 
these ignorant. tribes with, much approbation. They, have 
committed their children to the school which has been estab- 
lished by our missionaries, This is a token of much good. 
For young trees are manageable, and can be bent; though old 
ones are inflexible. ‘To induce us to supply the ignor ant with 
missionaries for their instraction, I ask what children possess 

the most and the best information? 'The answer is, The chil- 
tren of those parents who are not only capable of teaching 
them what they ought to know; but who are faithful in giving 
them line upon line and precept upon precept continually. A 
algo ask, what schools are the best informed? The answer 
is, those which have the best informed and the most faith(ul 
masters. I ask further, what congr egations, what churches, 
are the most acquainted with the contents of the Scriptures 
and the great doctrines of rey elation? Undoubtedly those; 


12 


svhich have the most able and the most faithful foes 
And though some ministers are reproved by the 1 

js it not a fact, that revivals of religion are eo es a 

most instructive and faithful labors of the most 

devout ministers? 4 am sensible a ‘ul 


tree by the fruit which it produces. | By their fruits ye s shall 
know them. 1 ask further, whether the neglect, with which 
the heathen have been treated by Christians in general, dur- 
ing past centuries, ought not to be a:motive to our present 
exertion to supply them with teachers? We shall all answer 
in the affirmative. ' O how dismal this consideration, if there 
were when Christ left the world only one hundred millions of 
heathen upon the stage; and if no more than this has been the 
average number, from year to year; and if the world changes 


its inhabitants every thirty years; that the vast number who — 


‘have gone out of time, in the course of two thousand years, 
have gone to the pit of destruction!” Alas! if but one hundred 
millions have gone every thirty years to ruin, during two 
thousand years, the regions of despair must be thronged with 
inhabitants. For many descended into the pit of ruin before 
Christ came into the world, and many have undoubtedly gone 
since that time, from the and of Gospel light.” Surely the 
past loss of souls must excite us to seek the salvation of sin- 
ners now by every means within our reach. This is the day 
of salvation. This is the acceptable time. It must be im- 
poured. 3 ONG had? iy ah ee the we kil 
é: +) sahedy We ahaa eae" 

_ Another motive to induce us to co-operate widen the 
heavenly ‘Missionary, is derived from the vast excitement, 
which God'‘has within afew years given to emperors, 2 nd 
kings and their influential subjects; to queens and their 
ens, and a ‘numerous host of people of all ranks, ob ollie 
generously for the purpose ‘of supplying the means necessary 
for the information ‘of the indigent, who are destitute of the 
Bible, and the ignorant who know nothing relative to the 
method of salvation, The enlightened part of the human race 


= 


18 


jare now awake to the importance of the salvation of the hea- 
then. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our 
eyes. We have ample evidence, that the time to build up Zion 
is athand. For her friends in every quarter of the enlight- 
ened world favor the stones, and the dust thereof; and even 
the earth is compelled to help the woman. Let’ us then co- 
operate with this host, who are generously contributing for 
the prosperity of Zion in the salvation of sinners. Let the 
‘example of the Russian emperor and his nobles excite us to 
do our part. While they, and many others in different parts 
of the world, are supplying the ignorant with the Bible, let us 
supply them with missionaries to explain it, For destitute of 
teachers, they, even with the Bible in their hands, will remain 
ignorant. They will not, they cannot, understand the Scrip- 
tures, except they have teachers to guide them. ‘Teachers 
are as necessary as the Scriptures. Missionaries and their 
families must go and live among them, and teach them both 
by precept and example. They must be acquainted with the 
devout and godly lives of missionaries, as well as with the 
doctrines which they inculcate, They must behold the exam- 

Pre of real Christians, 

_ Now, I ask my worthy associates and this assembly, 
whether all the accounts we receive from missionaries in Asia, 
Africa and America, and from the Isles of the sea, do not har- 
monize to convince us, that we must supply the ignorant, and 
the heathen with Gospel preachers, as well as with the Gospel 
itself, in order to do them good in the latter end? The answer 


is in the affirmative. Let us then close the discourse by afew 
reflections. 


IMPROVEMENT. rt bd 


1. From the interesting subject, we have contemplated, 
we infer the immense obligation laid upon us, to be thankful 
for God’s causing the Sun of Righteousness to shine upon the 
world enveloped in midnight darkness. Christ is the light of 
the world, and, if we follow him, be will conduct us into the _ 
regions of heavenly light and eternal blessedness. While 


id 
God, as a righteous sovereign, has. setalig ars finedy the apos- 


tate angels in chains of darkness int the pi 


nity, to he'd the heirs of God, and the iva sate 0 r 
the heavenly inheritance. Without money Sp witho 


pee in the exercise of his mercy toward sinful | me 
be humble at Hiad feet. ay 


2. Weare invited by the subject to Ries 
which distinguishes us and others from the. hu 
large, by granting us the shining light and ady I 
Gospel, while the major part of the human race in the 
depths of ignorance, and destitute of the light of Gospel. 
About two thousand years since all our ancestors were in» a 
pagan state, and destitute of the light of the Gospel. _ And but 
about three centuries past, and our ancestors were inv ed 
in the thick darkness and saperstition of popery. But by. the 
pious exertions of the celebrated reformers, whose names ha 
been mentioned in this discourse, they not only ext 
themselves, but thousands of others from the superstitions and 

abominations of the Romish church; and prepared. the way 
for thousands and millions to enjoy the liberty of the Gospel. 
Hence, instead of being under the tyranny of the pope, and 
his deceitful cardinals, we have Moses, the Prophets, Christ, 
and his Apostles, for our spiritual guides. Let us then 
be thankful for the inestimable blessings we enjoy; and Jet us 
as Christians lament the gloomy condition of the millions of 
our race, who are ina heathenish state, without God and with- 
out Gospel hope in the world. We are thus favored, not be- 
cause we deserve more than others; for as face answers to 
face in the glass, so the heart of man to man: but because 
God is a sovereign, who dispenses. his favors as he pleases to 
our sinful race. Let us then adore his sovereign grace. | Let 
us bow gratefully and submissively before him; and let hina 
have no rival in our hearts. ety 


ae 


™~ 


~ Inthe view of our subject, which Heleriivty calls our 
ntion to the importance of supplying the destitute and the 
heathen with proper guides and teachers, let us be thankful 
for the rich advantages we pussess in regard to the means of 
education. The religious schools, academies, colleges, and the 
theological seminaries, where our children and young men are 
educated for public teachers, are inestimable blessings to the 
church. By these advantages we have opportunity to raise 
up a host of missionaries to teach the ignorant. What we 
have done in these seminaries, and what we are now effecting 
in order to supply Gospel teachers, is not sufficient for the 
call. We must do more. For the harvest is greater than 
can be reaped and gathered by those who are now in the field, 
and by those who are preparing to enter it. We need many 
niore than we are able to supply. 


. The pressingcall, andthe high demand made for able mis- 
a eciteety teach the members of the Board of Foreign 
Missionsthat we are under great obligations to pursue our ob ject 
With unremitting diligence. Great, great, indeed, my Brethren, 
is our responsibility. The eyes of God, angels and men are 
upon us. For this is the impressive call of Christians, whose 
lot is cast among the indigent and the destitute. «Come over 
and help us.” This is also the call of all those missionaries, 
who have lately visited the aboriginals of the wilderness. 
“<Come over and help us. We are not able to effect what 
ought now to be accomplished among these needy and perish- 
ing tribes.” The same call is made from our missionaries in 
Asia: “Come over the wide ooean and help us.” The same 
affecting call is made by all the missionaries of Europe who 
are employed in Asia, Africa, and ip the Isles of the sea: 
“Come over and help us.” We need many more laborers in 
these gloomy places, where there are millions and millions of 
poor deluded souls. And this, my Dear Brethren of the 
Board, is the call, the imperious call of Christ the Lord of 
the harvest. And shall we not obey? Shall we not gird up 
eur loins and exert every nerve to suppl y missionaries, whe 


are thus needed? We'surely have me 
which ought to check our zeal. There i 
way but can be surmounted; no difficultie: 
ed. Our brethren, who have taken. fin 
connexions and their native country to labor am 
the heathen, have reason to expect more missionary 
We did not send them into that distant region without, 
them ample encouragement of being followed b y missionary 
assistants. They have ademand upon us; and we cannot ous 
answer the demand, which we must and shall do with pl 

ure. The example of Christ, who wept over perishing sin= 
ners, and completed his mission by the bitter death of the 
cross; the example of his apostles and martyrs who chose to 
meet persecution and death in any form, rather than neglect. 
their duty to the souls of sinners, will excite us te com 
with the call of duty. As we, agreeably to our professions 
expect to stand in the great day of retribution, among the 
blessed company to whom Christ will say, «I was hungry 
and ye gave me meat;” and not among those miserable 
wretches to whom he will say, «I was hungry and ye gave. 
me no meat,” we must now comply with his will. For noth- 
ing but the blessing, or the curse, of the Almighty awaits 
the children of men beyond the grave. To the faithful the 
Judge will say: «Come, ye blessed of my Father” and to 
the unfaithful he will say, «Depart, ye cursed into everlast-_ 
ing fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Who 

will not now be induced to be on the Lord’s side? God is effect 
ing so much to instruct the ignorant and the indigent part of 
the world into the knowledge of the truth, as it is in Jesus, 
that we e have much reason to believe the glorious periud of a 


that the Millenium j is at the door, when the light of then on 
will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun s the 
light of seven days. Let usthen all be seasonably on the Lo ord’s 
side, that whether in the body, or out of the body, among the. 
glorified spirits, we may enjoy the /glorious display of divine. 


grace, which will then be made in the conversion of both J ews, 


% 


17 
and Gentiles, Then the world will be filled with holy inhabi- 
tants. All se know the Lord from the least to the greatest. 
Sa j ; * 

Finally, the ange now before us invites this assembly to 
eontribute to its support, according to their ability. We do 
netask you to contribute to the support of a cause, which God 
disapproves; but to support that interest, which lies near the 
heart of Christ, who died upon the cross to save sinners from 
endless death; and, after his resurrection directed his disci- 
ples to preach the Gospel to every creature, and promised to 
be with them, in the execution of their office, to the end of the 
world. Now if you duly recollect, that you came into the 
world destitute of property: and that God has made you but 
the stéwards of the property, which he has graciously lodged 
in your hands, you will of course put the question, whether a 
portion of your property is not called for at the present time. 
And surely you cannot but be proper judges what portion of 
your property ought now to be devoted to the missionary in- 
terest, which to-day invites your attention. 1 have liberty to 
say, that if you love God supremely and your own souls, and 
the souls of your fellow mortals according to Uhrist’s com- 
mand, you will be induced to contribute liberally. For the 
eall is pressing, and some of this assembly will probably be 
called into eternity, before another opportunity to contribute 
like this will present itself. It is then hoped, that you will 
now act wisely in reference to the great day, when all God’s 
stewards will be called before his tribunal, to render an ac- 
count of their stewardship.. If you desire witnesses in favor 
of your faithfulness to God and love to the souls of men, have 
you not now an opportunity to secure them by contributing té 
the support of missionaries, who are deputed to preach to them 
the Gospel of Christ? What Christians, who -are able to 
make a liberal contribution, do not now desire that some of 
the heathen tribes, who are entirely ignorant of the Gospel, 
may, in consequence of their contributions, be taught the way 
of eternal life, and made savingly acquainted with Christ, 


and before his bar gratefully mention the missionary means 
3 


is 


by which they were brought out of darkness into-the light of 
salvation? My hearers, secure to yourselves Such Witnesses, 
They are desirable. And who knows but the contributions of 
this day may be the occasion of the salvation of hundreds of 
heathens, who will be the instruments of the salvation of thous 
sands and millions ofothers, who are now going downthe dreads 
ful steep to eternal ruin? We cannot, if we are Christians, but 
desire such displays of divine grace. Let us then liberally 
use the proper means, which God has appointed to procure 
such blessed effects, and wait the event. We only attempt to 
set before you the object which the Board has pursued with 
success. And when you reflect upon the Gospel advantages 
which you enjoy, and note, that amid all the missionaries 
among the heathen from Europe and America, there is not 


more than one missionary toa million heathens, you will con. 
tribute liberally. cer Pi eae 


In the view of this missionary occasion, you will excuse my 

freedom. - I cannot su uppress my feelings. = 
{ st ce 

My Fellow Mortals, who compose this large and respecta- 
ble assembly, please to remark, that your residence is near 
the confines of your unchangeable state Short is the inter- 
val between you and the silent grave, where nothing is effected 
for your endless duration and the duration of others in the 
eternal world. You will also remark, that you are God’s stew- 
ards, and that your reserved property is perishable, and may 
soon perish in the hands of those, who will not use it to the 
honor of God; but will misimprove it. Let me, therefore, 
once more ask you to contribute bountifully to the missionary 
object, which now imperiously demands support. Give gen- 
erously to the salvation of perishing men, who dwell in the 
regions of moral darkness where there is no Gospel vision. 
Only confer upon them the advantage, which you would need 
from them were your condition and their condition reversed. 
Act now; yet act with a solemn view to meet those at the bar 
of God, who wiil be blessed in consequence of your liberal con- 


is 


qribution, or cursed in consequence of being destitute of it. 
Supply the heathen with ample means to be grateful witnesses, 
that you now obediently and thankfully co-operate with Christ, 
‘who died upon the cross to save their souls from endless death. 
Shall we not this day by our prayers and liberality be the 
instruments of the salvation of hundreds and thousands of our 
fellow creatures, who are now enveloped in pagan darkness, 
and dwell in the habitations of cruelty? I will add no more. 
For the liberal devise liberal things, remembering that Christ 
has said, «it is more blessed to give than to receive.” The 
Lord who searches the heart, will direct his recording angel 
to notice the cheerful givers, and those also, who withhold 
their property, when he calls for it. Soon, we shall all be 
rewarded according to our works. The voice of the arch- 
angel and the trump of God will soon be heard to assemble 
the human race before the tribunal of Jehovah. Let us, then, 
be prepared, by a compliance with present duty, for the deci- 
sion of the great day. Brethren, the time is short. Let us 
do with our might, what is necessary for eternity. Let us 
not neglect that which is necessary for the salvation of souls. 


& enema viadinee uke 
‘ vai wid dil ye stave. i} Sei 
180% aealhess mol eluce visa ava ta . 
mibod elileaodil Disa wia tay “he . 
qu0 te ebinmea og | ua ead visting to 
aonaied asada ai boeologes Weer 
«7a da bbs that tL Sa eree re 
‘ani oA Md Abcaues ! ras 
ny yeeuion Of ind oui at shag 


5 Risen witilie>a if eit 43 ‘WH , hive 
& 


t 
P44) Gad ad atl vA sCBIB opogt Asi 


ye 1 - 
Veeoaey wii! «id 


f ¢ 


se * ° 
ey rey Pee sen , sae 
SOUT ei Cea 5 One en ied 


«Poh oft el eMule tuge 


a0 at Fiala ed opt a 

Ha ie ‘Umiyls x6) whiniem iio 
Say ; 
re 


Vie twiiavion of) to} Vapedboda et 


Samuel T. Armstrong, Printer, Boston. 


pe: 


\ 0 ” ae ° > A)? .° 
1 Mornl Discipline of Giving. 
| The Moral Diseiy je 


ANNUAL SERMON 


BEFORE THE 


| FOR 
| 
| FOREIGN MISSIONS, 


MEETING IN DETROLT, 


SEPTEMBER, 1858. 


| 
| 
| 
| 
} 
BY GEORGE SHEPARD, D.D. 


wan 


; 


AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS | 


| 


THE MORAL DISCIPLINE OF GIVING. 


SERMON, 


BEFORE THE 


AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 


FOREIGN MISSIONS, 


AT THE 


MEETING IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN 


? 


SEPTEMBER 7, 1858. 


BY GEORGE SHEPARD, D. D. 


Professor in Theol. Seminary, Bangor, Mc. 


BOSTON: 
PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN & SON, 42 CONGRESS STREET. 
1858. 


‘Derro: 

Resolved, That the thanks of the Board be 
SHEPARD for his Sermon, and that he be reques 
publication. 


Attest, 


SERMON. 


LUKE xt. 41. 


BUT RATHER GIVE ALMS OF SUCH THINGS AS YE HAVE; AND BEHOLD, ALL 
THINGS ARE CLEAN UNTO YOU. 


Curist, being invited, went in to dine with a 
Pharisee. His host marveled that he sat down to 
meat without first washing; whereupon the Lord 
addressed him and other Pharisees gathered with 
him: “ Now do ye Pharisees make clean the out- 
side of the cup and platter, but your inward part 
is full of ravening and wickedness.” Did not he 
that made that which is without, make that which 
is within also? Did not he who created the body, 
create the soul also? And is it not at least equally 
proper and important that the inner part, the soul, 
partake of the cleansing and the purity? 

Assuming that it is important, our Lord proceeds 
to prescribe a mode by which the moral cleansing, 
the purity, may be obtained: “But rather give 
alms of such things as ye have; and behold, all 
things are clean unto you.” These words present 
somewhat of difficulty, when we consider that they 
were addressed to a company of Pharisees, inas- 
much as the Pharisees were notoriously given to _ 


4 


the performance of these outward acts of charity. 
They did these outward things, and remained all 
vile within. An outward injunction, in their case, 
could hardly touch the infected spot. 

Some suppose that the Savior spake in an ironi- 
cal strain. As it regards your inward parts, all 
you have to do is to go on with your tithing system 
of mint and rue, anise and cummin, and all is 
clean to you—yours a perfect purity down to the 
bottom of your hearts. This view we cannot 
admit. The Lord, we think, spoke seriously; 
uttered before them a great truth, not a stinging 
sarcasm. 

If we suppose that the company of Pharisees 
gathered on that occasion were, as many were, 
exceedingly avaricious, given to the getting of 
gains by the closest and hardest means, and were 
also given so to hold on upon their possessions 
that they could not, by any means, be brought to 
devote them in charity, in any worthy measure, 
then the Savior’s words, which struck at their 
pockets, would have also a deeper aim, and strike 
and enter their hearts. 

The difficulty abiding in these words comes from 
the fact that so much efficacy is assigned to an 
outward performance. A great commentator, how- 
ever, remarks, in mitigation of this, that it was the 
manner of the Savior to command an outward act 
as a sign of the disposition, instead of enjoining 
the disposition itself. But here the giving act is 
put in a somewhat different relation. It seems to 
be put as an antecedent, a means to an end—cause 
to an effect. Giving according to the right stand- 


5 


ard and mode, is promotive of the soul’s disci- 
pline—its growth in moral purity, holiness. 

I come to this, then, as the main topic of my 
discourse: Giving of what God may have given 
us as the means of disciplining, purifying, eleva- 
ting the character. And I might speak of this 
discipline as both retrospective and prospective. 

In regard to the retrospective action, a few words 
will suffice; and these are suggested by the con- 
text. It is clearly implied that those addressed by 
the Savior were given to injustice. They had 
sought extortions and wrongful gains. In the 
strong phrase of Christ, “ Your inward part is full 
of ravening and wickedness;” all there greedy, 
rapacious, grasping. What now follows as duty 
in such a case? This, first, and without delay: 
' ¢Repent and return from such ways. From being 
injurious, rapacious men, become generous men; 
do justly, deal kindly.’ ‘Then, farther, the gospel 
enjoins this: ‘ Redress past wrongs; make repara- 
tion, restitution, as far as it can be done. But 
there are cases where it cannot be done. Those 
who were the subjects of the wrong, and all their 
representatives, have passed away, and can no 
more be found. Or the wrong is so complex, so 
woven into the web of other things, that it cannot 
be separated and acted upon, so as to be set right 
directly and specifically. Where this is the condi- 
tion of things, what then? Here let charity apply 
her corrective: “Give alms of such things as ye 
have, and all things are clean unto you.” This 
disposition and distribution of the estate got by 
hard means, indicate a softening of the character, 


6 


even the genuineness of the repentance. At once 
the conscience is relieved, and the heart is made 
better by the course taken. The possessions which 
the individual feels are not his and cannot be 
put back whence they were wrongfully taken, he 
chooses to make over to the Great Proprietor of 
all, by devoting them to his service in the welfare 
of his creatures. This is the most natural dictate 
of the heart, once base and wrong, into which the 
spirit of religion and reform has entered. So was 
it in the case of Zaccheus. Half of his goods he 
gave to the poor; then the most generous resti- 
tution to all whom he had defrauded. Who can 
doubt the integrity, the moral purity of that heart 
henceforth? Who doubt that all the residue of 
his estate was clean unto him? Who doubt that 
from that time he began truly to possess and enjoy 
his own ? 

This is what we may call the backward correc- 
tion, the retrospective discipline of benevolence. 
It is not the giving of a portion of ill-gotten wealth 
to sanctify the rest, also and equally ill-gotten. 
The principle does not touch such a case. Such a 
case is only and intensely atrocious and abomin- 
able. This is simply a case both of generousness 
and justice where the opposites of these had been. 

We suggest whether this backward correction, 
this retrospective discipline, should not be matter 
of thought and consideration now: whether the 
Lord’s cause and the welfare of men would not 
receive means for their promotion, if there were 
more inquiring and acting in this direction ;—the 
Lord’s treasury receiving numberless fragments, 


7 


and some huge masses, which are now in hands 
that would be better off without them. Let each 
take the candle of the Lord and pass through his 
own premises—its rays penetrating all the tortuous 
intricacies of the past, and then let him do what 
this revealing light shall teach him to do; and he 
will be likely to do both generously and well; cer- 
tainly, be likely to improve his standing for this 
world and the world to come. 

But I pass now to what is more generally appli- 
cable and practical—the present and prospective 
discipline of the spirit and habit of giving—giving 
as a means of spiritual advance, of growth in moral 
purity ; all within, and all pertaining to one be- 
coming clean, pure. The word used here is the 
same used by Christ in that other place: “ Blessed 
are the pure in heart.” 

In order to make a man clean, pure, particularly 
a character like that contemplated by Christ in the 
text, certain evil and corrupting things are to be 
removed out of him. ‘There is to be an ejectment 
of the corrupt and corrupting, in the process of 
attaining to the clean, the pure. And one in the 
category of the corrupt and the corrupting—and 
this a main one, abiding at the fountain—a grand 
promoter and feeder in the wrong direction—is the 
love of money. So Paul names it, and then at- 
taches to it this primal and terrible potency, root 
of all evil—pronouncing the love of money the 
root of all evil. He means that love of it, which 
leads the individual harboring this passion, to ad- 
dress himself to the work of getting it—accumu- 
lating, heaping it together; this his end, his great 


8 


object in living. The Apostle shows this to be his 
meaning, in the verse immediately preceding, where 
he uses another phraseology, “They that will be 
rich;” this is the working and the end of the pas- 
sion. It resolves itself into the will to be rich. 
Christ’s word chosen to describe it, yields the same 
idea on being subjected to an analysis; his word 
is covetousness, which means, etymologically—haye 
more—the desire to have more. 

This, as a very common desire or passion in the 
human soul, is quite obvious, showing itself on 
every hand in the schemes and the toils to get 
more. ‘This, as being an evil desire, most fruitful 
of mischief, Paul portrays in that flaming sketch: 
« They that will be rich fall into temptation and 
a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, 
which drown men in destruction and perdition.” 
This passion, how sure to grow! If the person 
dare indulge it, it will grow and get stronger than 
he; increasing still in capacity, in greediness, in 
clamor, ever ringing the repetitious ery: ‘Give! 
give!’ The already vast quantity of possession 
only adds vehemence to the cry: ‘More! yet more!’ 

And under its influence, what wrongs, oppres- 
sions, crimes, are enacted! And what follies, too! 
This rage for more, in its height and intensity, 
seems not only to blind the eyes, but strangely to 
abate the brains. The Savior, in addressing one of 
the sort,—a representative man, doubtless, to resort 
to the modem parlance,—used upon him the rather 
curt term, ‘Thou fool.’ Sometimes it is one by 
himself, ‘Thou fool. Sometimes—and have we 
not seen something of the kind !—large masses are 


9 


frenzied together. ‘There stands forth pretty much 
a whole generation of fools, inciting and inflaming 
one another—expanding and spreading out, till 
there comes a crash and a conclusion; and the 
whole surface is seen strewn with wrecks of char- 
acter and fortune. There follows a wholesome 
pause ; and one would suppose that some abiding 
wisdom would be derived from the meditations and 
amazements of the compulsory silence; certainly, 
suppose that such a course and result never could 
be repeated by the same individuals, or their imme- 
diate successors. But it is repeated. ‘The same 
ones, with the smart of the old chastisement in 
their skins, and the indented bruise of it in their 
_ bones, will spring forth, eager to reénact the same 
old fury. So it is that this desire grows when 
allowed, and maddens men, and ruins characters, 
fortunes, and souls. 

It is plain, as I have already intimated, that in 
the course or process of becoming clean and pure, 
this evil desire must be repressed, and even put out. 
We come now to hint the way of doing it. 

One way, a most legitimate and summary way— 
may I not say the way, no other being wanted !—s 
this, namely, by giving. Let a person give alms of 
such things as he has, and he will be cleansed of 
this foul and ever-defiling desire or passion. But 
in order to the achievement of so great an end, 
there must be conditions to the giving. It must be 
principled, the result and flow of principles—prin- 
ciples in this Holy Book laid down, and by the 
heart cordially embraced ;—not impulsive, giving 
as the fit takes, as the sympathies happen to be 

2 


10 


stirred. Based on principle, uniform and habitual, 
it bears a just relation to the means God has put 
into our hands. This is one of the principles or 
laws in this matter, that the giving bear a fixed 
and just relation or proportion to the means 
placed at our disposal. And what is the propor- 
tion ? or what the principle, the rule to be made? 
This principle, that every one at stated times lay 
by him in store for this purpose, according as God 
has prospered him, would be sufficient, if we may 
suppose in him the thoroughly Christian heart. To 
add this, namely, Let him lay by for charity a gen-° 
erous proportion, is leaving it still quite too indefi- 
nite. To say a tenth of all that comes im, is greatly 
unequal. ‘There is neither justice nor benevolence 
in this as the universal law of giving. For the 
object I have in view, this statement may be an 
approximate ; at least, may stand preparatory to 
one more definite, namely, that a person give in 
measure and continuity sufficient to feel it. How 
little, probably, is given in the Church of God where 
this is the effect! How very few, probably, from 
the measure they give, have any, even the least, sen- 
sation of inconvenience. Of self-denial, and real 
sacrifice from giving, I suppose the great majority 
of Christian givers know nothing. In all such 
cases, of course, the entire personal benefit and 
discipline from giving, is lost. According to the 
statement now in hand, the sensation-prineiple, the 
tithe system, or the law of tenth, can be no general 
rule; for, in very many cases, the amount dictated 
by this rule would hardly be enough to throw any, 
even the smallest twinges, into the soul’s cleaving 


11 


selfishness. A tenth can be given, and the man 
never know, by any appreciable diminution, that he 
has given any thing; of course, he can give all 
that, and vastly more, without beginning to feel it. 
What is done, is but shelling off some of the loose 
outer scales of one of these Leviathans of wealth. 
The giving, to be effectual as a discipline, must be 
on a principle that shall reach and restrict the 
desire for getting—the intent to have more ; for all 
the mischief, and meanness, and smallness, lie in 
that—emanate from that. On that it is, all Scrip- 
ture pours its intense and concentrated exproba- 
tion. 

What principle and measure of giving, then, will 
administer to this the repressive, yea the annihila- 
ting blow?! ‘That principle which says, “ By the 
grace of God, I will no more lay up treasure for 
myself,” the person at once and forever renouncing 
the purpose, even crucifying the desire to be rich. 
Then, that measure or amount of giving, which 
accrues from giving the whole beyond a certain 
prescribed boundary. No accumulation of prop- 
erty, does this mean? No, not that. Accumula- 
tion there may be, and should be: and the amount, 
the extent of it, is to be settled in the best moments 
of Christian experience—under the most decisive 
action of the Christian spirit, and principle—a 
definite amount fixed under the felt meaning of 
that great vow of an entire consecration to Him. 
It may be thousands, or tens of thousands, or hun- 
dreds of thousands. More or less, this is its sol- 
emn condition and quality ; it is a Christian amount 
—teligioufsly retained as the means to still larger 


12 


deeds of giving and blessing. Here we have the 
man, all he has, and all his power of getting, pos- 
sessing, diffusing, devoted to God. With him 
accumulation has this purpose—it is for God. It 
has this limitation—nothing for self—nothing be- 
yond a solemnly prescribed amount ; no indefinite 
laying up. It is a great step for a person to come 
to this point—costing a mighty wrestle, and the 
bloody sweat of the soul, probably, to renounce the 
purpose of personal and selfish getting—the intent 
of property, wealth. It is something every one 
will profoundly feel in the conflict—the actual 
doing it. Some have succeeded in the doing, and 
have stood forth noble examples of character, and 
prodigies in the line of giving. 

We are sure that, in this repression and restric- 
tion just indicated, the course, the action, is right. 
There can be no mistake at this point. If this 
thirst for money, this purpose and practice of indefi- 
nite getting—all one can, to the end—if this is 
wrong—has on its face the indignant brand of 
Almighty God, then is it right for the disciple— 
made his duty by the law and spirit of his religion, 
to fix a limit, to build a Christian boundary some 
where to this fiery and rampant lust of humanity— 
desire of possession, to have more. This terrible 
lust—you can’t pet it, play with it, and say, you 
will keep it under. No man can. No man can 
serve two masters. It will be one—a single alle- 
giance ; one up, and the other under. Hence the 
right, the necessity absolute, that there be ordained 
the broad line of demarkation—that there be dug 


13 


.in the soul a deep and saphbeable trench between 
God and mammon. 

Let us see now what is accomplished in the way 
of discipline—moral cleansing and keeping clean, 
by the action thus far. This first at the fountain— 
that great, generic, base, cloven-footed, all-defiling 
thing, the selfish, self-seeking—love of money, will 
to get it—this in the case supposed, is pretty much 
wiped from the heart by the one broad, introduc- 
tory stroke, by that soul’s counter and higher pur- 
pose, in that soul’s true consecration. This higher 
and Christian purpose becomes the purge, which 
carries off the filth and slime of the old fever. 
This purpose, once enthroned in the soul, summa- 
rily subordinates and drives out the whole litter of 
mean and craven lusts. I knew one for years, and 
loved him, and learned of him, though officially his 
teacher, and deemed him the model giver of the 
State of Maine. This was his principle—his pur- 
pose. Early and with a true Christian heart, he 
marked off the sum to be retained, and fixed the 
boundary ; and he made over all the rest, freely 
and broadly scattering it as it came. The love of 
money, the desire of holding, he often said, and 
more often showed, that he knew nothing of it. 
The faintest breath or motion from this source 
never, so far as he was conscious, stirred the outer 
surface of his soul. In the eight years of my con- 
nection with him, he gave away probably twice the 
sum which he reserved as the capital of his busi- 
ness and his beneficence. He is now in heaven, 
and can we suppose that he there regrets that 
measure of consecration and sacrifice ? 


14 


Another thing: the central and despotic lust. 
extinct, at least brought under, then the wrong 
deeds so apt to be perpetrated in the eagerness for 
gain, in the rage for yet more—no such deeds will 
ever be done. All business, all labors for the 
world, are sanctified by the soul’s good purpose, 
are a part of the man’s Christianity, the dictate of 
rectitude and benevolence. Never does such an 
one overreach and craftily haul in huge gains upon 
an already overgrown stock ; never take advantage 
when he can, and grind the necessitous; never 
throw blight upon others’ fortunes, that he may 
add brightness to his own. Not a dollar comes 
into his coffer dimmed and stained by his manner 
of obtaining it. It is all clean money. From all 
the temptations of business his comes forth an un- 
sullied and honorable name. ‘The great and kingly 
affection of religion, the love of the heart, abides 
unquestioned in the supremacy. The other graces 
take their proportion and place; all the impulses 
of a pure and genial nature blend to produce a 
character whose descriptive is goodness ; its form, 
a winning, admirable symmetry. 

Of such a character we find that generousness 
is a prominent, practical attribute. Let us, then, 
pass on and see how naturally and infallibly the 
principle I have indicated produces it; how surely 
it grows and benignly spreads under the soul’s high 
purpose of restriction upon the world, and the 
purpose to be “rich toward God.” We have 
already noted the fact, that it abolishes, at once 
crushes out, the leading cause of closeness, stingi- 
ness in a man—this cause, the desire of getting, 


15 


the fascination of accumulating—I want here the 
Greek’s terser tongue, and the privilege to cry, 
pleonexia—have more. Henry Rogers, in a late 
work, speaks of a man who always gave a guinea 
to each of certain good objects. ‘This person at 
length received a bequest which, he says, ‘‘ might 
be made the basis of a fine estate.” He caught 
the idea of increasing—rather, that “caught him. 
When asked the next time for his donation to an 
object approved, though more was justly expected, 
nothing was received ; not a penny would he give: 
but a reason he gave; and the sum of it was, that 
now he had something considerable in hand, and 
there was a satisfaction in making it more. Before, 
there was no such object in keeping, so he freely 
gave ; now there was an object, and every little he 
kept told on the result. So he kept it, and so he 
would not give. Just here we have the secret why 
men, prospered in the world, perpetually swelling 
their gains, are proportionally slender givers, often 
the most grudging and stinted in their giving; 
while those who eat up their income, and not 
enough at that, those who have made up their 
mind to do good in the land, and trust God to be 
fed, are among the foremost in generous deeds. 
On the one side it is the purpose, the desire to get 
and to add, that dwarfs the soul so ignominiously ; 
' on the other, it is the purpose, all for God, which 
fashions the soul to that largeness and generous 
doing. And in the latter case, not only is the 
measure made over admirable; the manner of it, 
the freeness and heartiness, make it still more so. 
Such an one has not, on every presentation of 


16 


charity, to wage a bitter warfare with the base and 
servile part of himself; has not to debate and 
contend with and wring at length a few reluctant 
driblets out of a dry, hard, tyrant passion, who is 
allowed the keys; has not to go and pound and 
importune, as it were, at the tight door of a gloomy 
iron box, constructed for a smooth passage in, but 
a most rubbing passage out. Behold! see how 
pitiably poor the little creature is! How dreadful 
hard it comes! Taking from him his money, is 
very much asif you tore off the flakes of his flesh; 
and we can seem to see the wry face he twists into, 
under the agony of the parting. To the man of 
the other sort, with the heat and lust for more sum- 
marily quelled—the great purpose, all for God 
and human welfare, kept dominant; to him, it is 
the sweetest and best of all privileges to give. 
He welcomes every authentic application; even 
searches for the opportunity, and blesses the man 
who furnishes him with one. He finds the words 
of the Lord Jesus true, when he said, “ It is more 
blessed to give than to receive.” All is turned to 
a pure heart—comfort—a fresh fountain of happi- 
ness. 
We see how important it is, that one have at the 
bottom and the beginning, right principle. It is a 
grand regulator. One right principle at the head 
and fountain of conduct, puts and keeps every 
thing in the region of it and resulting therefrom, 
right also. And a principle like the one we have 
now stated, thus generic and summary in the pre- 
vention of evil and the production of good, has 
herein a proof that it is right, and is of God. Just 


17 


see what it does. This one word, giving, carried 
through on this principle, succeeds to blot out 
those other traitorous and engulfing words—will 
to be rich—among the most tainting and deadly 
in all the human vocabulary. Planted here, doing 
this, no taint shall ever touch you; no ill-gotten 
gain shall ever sear your conscience or burn your 
palm. The clustering graces of holiness, the 
rather, will gather around and adorn your char- 
acter. All that is given will go with freeness and 
joy; and the result, the amount imparted, shall 
stand in the end as a noble monument, not of merit 
but of grace—the soul’s treasure passed over, laid 
up on the other side, its own inalienable posses- 
sion, the glory and wealth of its immortality. 

Not only shall you be blest in your character 
and deed, but those connected with and dependent 
upon you, shall be blest through you, as your intent 
and prosperous hoarding never could have blessed 
them. Hence, in another sense, all things are 
clean unto you. By this standard and course of 
beneficence, by this example of piety, by the 
prayers which go up from a heart thus pervaded 
and consecrated, by such large outgoes of charity 
as shall keep down the hope of inherited wealth 
in those coming after, you help form an atmosphere 
_ of purity for children to breathe and grow up in. 
The property which,—fast held and to the last 
skillfully rolled up, would have been a snare to 
them, an omnipresent temptation, as it commonly is, 
and would have taken away their manly strength, 
and salient aspiration, and achieving enterprise, as 
it commonly does, dooming them, and passing them, 

3 


18 


with rare exceptions, to the shades of insignificance 
and blank nothingness in creation, as is most 
obtrusively and painfully the case—this property, 
dealt with and disbursed on the other principle, is 
charged with no such perils, is changed wholly to 
another, a vital element and issue. The carnal and 
corrupting given, the spiritual is received, and so 
the treasures of your home become vastly greater 
and richer. The crowning good is, that all is 
clean ; your hands clean; your reputation clean ; 
your soul, through grace, clean; your children, 
through the same grace, clean; all these clean to 
you. 

We should love to commend, could we do it, this 
principle of repressed selfishness and of enthroned 
benevolence to that great company of disciples, 
who have recently been brought into the kingdom 
of Christ. How remarkable have been God’s deal- 
ings with the people since this Board held its last 
Annual Meeting: the business of the world, by a 
sudden stroke and shock, thrown into confusion, ° 
into complex and prostrating disaster; men’s 
hearts failing them, distress and ruin settling 
down upon all ranks and conditions ; then, directly 
upon this, almost simultaneous with it, the heavens 
opened and poured down righteousness, and myr- 
iads have been made rich in the inalienable posses- . 
sion. How fitting, that those who have come in, 
and are still coming, we trust, amid circumstances 
so significant, and outpourings of the Spirit so 
indicative of the grandeur of prophecy, should join 
to inaugurate a new order of piety ; rather to bring 
back again the primitive order and type! We 


19 


would beg of this company of new disciples, could 
we speak to them, to take their stand for Christ ; 
resolved to live a life of singleness and generous- 
ness to the Master and the race he is redeeming. 

Only let it be so; this elect company coming 
along to be such givers and workers, and still 
rising higher in this divine scale, then shall they 
imspire even veteran breasts with fresh assurances 
of success, bring light and cheer amid worldly 
depression and gloom. Then will they be an 
honor to Christianity, a new argument of its verity, 
and an added force to send it to the remote, and 
apply it to those near. 

We have reason to take courage from this living 
accession God is making to us. We may not 
repine at the great ela catastrophe and revul- 
sion, but accept it as a just discipline, and be 
thankful even for those quick-working breaks in 
the invisible enginery of God’s providence, which 
bring men to a stop in season not to leap the 
precipice. 

We welcome these fresh co-workers, because, 
coming in as they do, we calculate that they come 
to be whole men—altogether on one side—that 
they come by that singular sort of consecration 
which gives up all to the Lord—body and soul, 
the man and the money—not trying to stand some- 
where between, as if adjusting and connecting 
those great antagonisms, God and mammon; just 
where any quantity of professing Christians seem 
to be standing; I mean, are standing; and what 
they are doing; doing nothing as they ought to 
do, nothing largely and worthily forthe Master; 


20 


cankered, eaten all through with the rust of self- 
ishness ; spoiled for any noble, Christian work. 

To any persons remotely meditating the hopes 
or the profession of Christianity, we say, neither 
the Church nor the world wants any more such 
Christians. 

These anomalies of discipleship, these abnormals 
of the kingdom, who lay down a part of the 
price—give their carcasses and keep back their 
coffers; they bring neither power, nor credit, nor 
a blessing. 

Is it not an astounding fact, when there is so 
much created in order to be given, and when there 
are so many professed servants, new created of 
God, who hold it and are bound to give it; the 
oath of consecration most solemnly upon them ; 
a world needing it; the world all thrown open to 
receive it, or the gospel it might send ; its millions 
upon millions brought into vicinage; and when we 
may come directly to them, and impress them, and 
mould them, and put them in the way to heaven; 
and yet that the Church fails most frequently and 
decisively in meeting the cost, as though she could 
not afford to set her dollars against the redemption 
of these souls. I fear she hardly puts down annu- 
ally a dime against a soul. The men to go are 
oftener on hand—it is the money that lags. 

It does seem often as though the worst, the most 
cruel form of selfishness, is this which links itself 
with religion and religious people. Oh! this self- 
ishness of the new man, this Christian world- 
liness, this baptized carnality, this holy greed of 
gain; what a demoniac heart thou hast. Accursed 


- =«C- 


hape! hellish thme! away from our temples and 
our hearts! Let the Master come. if he must. with 
ples and our hearts; and himself possess us, and 
fill us with his own good Spirit. 

Bat the blessed Master has another and a better 
way to purge out the evil, and take the possession, 
namely, by his trath and grace. This is the doc- 
trine of the text, and of all his Gospel. The Chnis- 
tian character is benevolence—+the sparit of sacrifice 
and of work for a lost world. A missionary spinit 
is the measure of it; a giving spirit. at once the 
measure and the promoter of it. 

Giving, then, is one of the means of grace—one 
of the best means of spiritual growth. If no good 
extermally is done by the gifts. the charities. still a 
Vital and immeasurable good is done to the giving 
soul; enough. and vastly more than enough, to 


justify the deed. The sordid taunt so often thrown, © 


“Why all this waste!” it comes of the sordidness 
that is equal to the sale of the Lord himself—the 
thirty pieces in the pocket better than He. [I re- 
peat, if no other good is done, there is no waste ; 
no matter what the amount given, be it only 
enough, if done with the Christian motive, then 
the character is set forward, and the Church is 

brought up higher and nearer to the millennial 
state. The Church must pass through the work 
and the sacrifice of establishing the millenium 
abroad, in order to make one im her own pale. 
Those final words of her Lord, then, which lay 
upon her this amazing responsibility, «Go preach 
the Gospel—evangelize all nations;* are to her 


22 


an untold heritage of blessings and of blessedness. 
They embody the corrective and expulsion of her 
deadliest foes ; they are to her the necessary means 
of the victory, and the kingdom and the crown; I 
mean on this ground of attainment—personal, sep- 
arate fitness, reached by the culture and through 
the conflict of beneficent giving and doing. The 
question before us is, Will we meet these con- 
ditions, and have the millenium at home; the 
kingdom within us—not forgetting the one con- 
dition our Lord so significantly marks—giving 
alms of such things as we have? 

To very many, this, as a means of grace—of spir- 
itual advance—stands in the first place, and is in- 
dispensable; stands in a sense even before prayer— 
they being ahead in prayer, behind in giving. To 
all those, then, who have given leanly and grudg- 
ingly, we say, Arise and give—give bountifully— 
give heartily—give willfully—just because some- 
thing within resists and says, I won’t. Give the 
more and still more, from the very teeth and grip 
of the old retaining passion. Give with the meas- 
ure and intent to crucify it ;—that hundred the 
nail, that thousand the spike, that ten thousand 
the spear, and so proceed and persist till the base 
and slimy thing is wholly dead. ~ 

And in our dealings with others—the minister, 
in his appeals to his people, must come to them 
with some authority, with a worthy object, and 
with a sizable claim. A small matter will not do 
the business with men, taking them as they rise. 
The heart of the majority is so snugly shut 
up—the orifice not unfrequently all tight and 


23 


twisted and gnarled—if you would come upon it 
with any likelihood, it must be, not merely with a 
sharp tool, but with some bulk and weight. Pry 
at it with a massive lever; some little local appeal 
will not make a passage. The field is the world— 
the instrument also. Then make the big world 
into a wedge, and drive that in, and so you shall 
succeed, and they and the world shall be the 
better for it. 

Giving—doing—-sacrificing, on the right scale, is 
not the only means of grace to ourselves; it is the 
secret of power in what we do for the needy or 
perishing. Money so given that it does us good in 
the giving, does, we believe, vastly more good in its 
going forth. It takes,so to speak, an embalming 
and vitalizing from the heart it leaves, which gives 
it, or the truth it commissions, an imbedding in the 
hearts it goes to. A thorough victory over selfish- 
ness, achieved and shown on the part of Christians 
and the Church, becomes the miracle of the Gos- 
pel—its moral sign, which opens a path for it to 
the souls of skeptical or idolatrous men. What 
economy appears in the arrangement of means and 
what responsibility it imposes, that our condition 
of power toward the world is simply that the Gos- 
pel, by our whole reception of it, has become a 
power upon us—first, a power upon us, then a 
power within, and a power emanant. The Gospel 
living in us, and working out, is its own witness. 
In this condition, we need spend no time in prelim- 
inaries, none in philosophizing or proving. Filled 
full of it ourselves, that is the argument; and over- 
flowing, that the argument; and giving bounti- 


24 


fully, and intently working for the good of others, 
that the argument. So was it with the Apostle 
Paul. Mighty as he was in the tread of his logic 
when he chose, in the main he was his own argu- 
ment—moved over lands and seas, himself a 
colossal demonstration. The same with the Chris- 
tians then—their character, the reign of love 
throughout, their total conquest of selfishness, 
no man calling anything he possessed his own; 
that their argument. What they did, history tells 
us, and we shall repeat the achievement when we 
repeat the character, and not till then. Our first 
responsibility is to be what we ought to be, and 
what we may be. The path is all open to the 
attainment, the Divine Helper open to our access ; 
to him let us come, with hearts open and longing 
to receive the replenishments of good which shall 
eject the evil—those enrichments of grace, those 
treasured gifts of salvation, that repletion of the 
love divine, which shall make us ready, eager even, 
for any work or sacrifice fitted to advance the king- 
dom and the glory of the Master. 


= 


y 


. 


‘PAUL ON MARS HILL: 


" 


a CHRISTIAN SURVEY OF THE PAGAN WORLD. 
. 


OR, ine Bik: 7! 


>. 


a 3 


A 


SERMON, 


‘e PREACHED AT NEWBURYPORT, JUNE 21, 1815, 


AT THE 


ORDINATION 


OF THE REVEREND 


MESSRS. SAMUEL J. MILLS, JAMES RICHARDS, ED- 
WARD WARREN, HORATIO BARDWELL, BEN- 
_ JAMIN C. MEIGS, AND DANIEL POOR, 


TO THE OFFICE OF 
Christian Missionaries, 


By SAMUEL WORCESTER, v.v. 


PASTOR OF THE TABERNACLE CHURCH IN SALEM. . 


~ 


wi 


PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE-PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE OF THE 


AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN 
MISSIONS. ve 


ANDOVER: : w 


PRINFED BY FLAGG AND GOULD. 


tee 


: i 
ie 


Fen 


| 


ACTS xvii. 46. 


; NOW, WHILE PAUL WAITED FOR THEM AT ATHENS, HIS SPIRIT WAS 


STIRRED IN HIM, WHEN HE SAW THE CITY WHOLLY GIVEN TO 
IDOLATRY. 


Tux history of the first propagation of christianity 
eminently deserves the attention of all men. Singularly 
interesting im its subject, it is replete with various and 


. momentous instruction. It furnishes ample and most de- 


cisive evidence, that the gospel is from God ; it affords 
opportunity for bringing many different and discordant 
opinions to the test of fact ; and it shews in a strong light 
the fallen condition of mankind, the necessity of a special 
interposition of Heaven for their recovery, the wisdom 
and the benignity of the divine dispensations, and the 
sovereignty and the plenitude of divine grace. 

The Apostle of the Gentiles, after planting the gospel 
in many provinces of Asia, passed over into Europe, and 
preached with success in Macedonia, particularly at Phi- 
lippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. In each of these places 
flourishing churches were planted; but in each, he met 
with determined opposition, and violent persecution. Driv- 
en from Macedonia, he directed his course southerly into 
the province of Achaia, and came to Athens ; whence he 


: 


4 


sent back an order to his two assistants, Silas and ‘Timo- 


thy, to come without delay, and join him there. 


Athens was the light of Greece, and the glory of the 
gentile world. Her heroes, statesmen, and sages—her > 


poets, orators, and artists were renowned in all nations ; 


and their renown has descended to our day, and will de- 
scend to latest time. Though, when visited by the apos- 


tle, she had passed her meridian; yet even then she was — 


the mistress of science, the model of taste and refinement, 


the acknowledged and venerated preceptress of the Roman | 
empire. ‘To a literary, philosophic, or curious mind, no 


place on earth could have been more interesting. Monu- 


ments of other times, and works of late production; tem- 


ples, statues, and paintings ; schools, books, and musea 5. 
scholars, artists, and connoisseurs, come from different 


countries for improvement or amusement, and enjoying the. 


luxuries of learned or of polite leisure :—all these would 
solicit attention, and offer rare and diversified entertain-. 
ment. Paul is universally allowed to have been a schol- 
ar, and a man of taste; and from the vigour of his facul-: 
ties, the warmth and epihtiers of his mind, he must have: 
been eminently susceptible of the impressions of the objects. 
and scenes around him at Athens. .He knew well where. 
he was, and his mind was awake; but his observations 
and his feelings were widely different from those of the mere. 
philosopher, neitioies or man of the world. He knew that. 
he was at the very centre of earthly glory, amid depends | 


est monuments of the human faculties : but: in the.Jight of 


that glory, and by the aid of those monuments, he saw_ 
human nature in most deplorable degradation and wretch-. 
edness: without God, without holiness, svishaspillinppi- 

ness ;—following after vanities, feeding on wind, and per-. 


: 


° . 5 . . -* - ’ 
ishing in its own deceptions and corruptions.. He observ-: — 


ed that, with all its dazzling splendours, that far famed: 
city was wholly given to idolatry; and his spirit was 


ee 


5 


stirred in him. His emotions. were such as not to be re- 
pressed ; his holy zeal was raised fo a atime not to be 
restrained. 

It cannot, my brethren, be arial to the present 
occasion, to consider more particularly the cause of the 
strong emotions, which the apostle when at Athens felt ; 
and then to contemplate what he was impelled to do, and 
the effects which ensued. 

I. His spirit was stirred in ns because he saw the 
city wholly given to idolatry ; or, as some would choose 
to read, filled with idols. Either of these renderings is 
good, and neither of them disagrees with well established, 
fact. Greece at large was famous for the immense multi- 
plicity of its gods, and its excessive devotedness to idola- 
trous superstitions ; and in both the one and the other, 


| Athens was scarcely less preeminent, than in arms and 


arts. By one classic author,* she is said to have “ had 


_ more images than all the rest of Greece,” and to have 


« exceeded all other people in her assiduities towards the 
gods :” by another, to have “ had twice as many sacred: 
festivals as any other city ;” and by a third { she is call- 
ed “ the Altar of Greece.”? With these testimonies the 
voice of all antiquity agrees. 

Athens, in addition to the gods peculiarly her own, 
adopted those.of Egypt, Phenicia, Syria—of the pagan 
nations indeed, generally, in Asia, Africa and Europe.. 
These deities were the luminaries of heaven,—the elements 
of nature, —dead heroes, and other men and women, distin- 
guished in their days,—animals of various kinds,—human 
faculties, virtues and vices,—and imaginary beings of mon-. 
strous form and character. For these gods, images were 
made, temples were built, aliars were erected, and rites of 
worship were instituted. To some of them the worst of 
passions, and the worst of vices were attributed ; and cor- 

* Pansanius. + Xenophon. + #lian. 


6 


respondent to the attributes, with which they were invest-. 
ed, were the rites with which they were worshipped. 
Their images were symbols of enormity ; their temples 
were high places of abomination; their festivals were 
scenes of licentious revelry. Such were the andreas, 
such was the religion of renowned Athens, 
The city was wholly given to idolatry: all dates of the 
people were idolaters. For ages, indeed, this city had 
been the seat of philosophy, and the residence of sages; 
and for several hundred years some correct and sublime 
ideas of the One Supreme God. were to be found in her 
schools. Many of her philosophers saw great defects in) _ 
the established religion, great absurdities in the customary — 
superstitions, great corruptions in the general manners; __ 
but those defects their wisdom did not remedy, those ab- — 
surdities their philosophy did not correct, preteens | ; 
tions their virtue did not withstand: with all their fine 
sentiments, their vaunted reasonings, their imposing pre- 
tensions, they themselves worshipped lords many and gods’ | 
many, communicated in the abominations of the mysteries 
and of the temples, were influenced by the reigning delu-. — 
sions, and contaminated with the prevalent enormities.. 
All this, and more, St. Paul, who had the best opportuni- © 
ties for knowing the facts, and wrote as he was moved by - 
the Holy Ghost, most forcibly declares. He does not de-: 
ny that those celebrated wise men, had some correct know- 
ledge of the Supreme Being; but he affirms that “when 
they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, neither: 
were thankful ; but became vain in their ima » 
their foolish heart was darkened.”? Though they bad. at-. 
tained to some just notions of the one True God,and eould — 
discourse sublimely concerning his existence, his attributes, — 
his providence, and the homage and service, due to him — 
from his creatures ; yet they did not supremely love and” 
reverence him: did not pay even their external homage, — 


7 
exclusively, nor principally, if indeed at all, to him—did 
‘not openly avow and endeavour to propagate what they 
mew of him ; but, alienated from him in their minds, they 
contented themselves with curious speculations upon his 
nature and character, gloried in their fancied preeminence 
in wisdom, and made a merit of joining themselves, and 
ineuleating upon their disciples to join, in the established 
worship of the innumerable idols of their city and nation. 
Thus, “while they professed to be wise, they became 
fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God in- 
to an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, 
and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” This is 
true even of Socrates and Plato, as the most authentick 
records of antiquity attest. Socrates, when arraigned be- 
fore the high court of Athens, and accused of innovating 
in religion, expressly pleaded in his defence, that he had 
always, both in private and in publick, worshipped, and 
taught his disciples to worship, the many gods of his coun- 
try ; and for the truth of his plea he confidently appealed 
to those who had best known the course of his practice, 
and the tenour of his instructions. If sueh was the prac: 
tice of the best of the philosophers, we should rationally 
conelude, and the conclusion is supported by abundant 
evidence, that the practice of the rest was certainly no 
better. : 
Of this enormous inconsistency and impiety, the conse- 
quences were most deplorable and fatal. As with all their 
_ knowledge, “ they changed the truth of God into a lie, and 
worshipped and served the creature, more than the Crea- 
tor ; God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the 
lusts of their own hearts ;” “ to vile affections,” the very 
vilest, indeed, which have ever polluted and disgraced our 
fallen nature ; “ to a reprobate mind, to do those things 
_ which were not convenient : being filled with all unrigh- 
teousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, mali- 


8 


ciousness, envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; whis- 
perers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boast- 
ers, inventors of evil things, disobedient to Ss, cove- 
nant breakers, without natural <a im , un. 
merciful : who, though they knew the judg 
that they. that commit such things are worthy of death; 
yet not only did them, but had pleasure in those who prac- 
tised them.”” Is this, my brethren, high colouring? Let 
it be remembered, it is a picture sketched by the pencil. of 
God. Though shocking in the extreme, we may rest as- 
sured, it is faithful and true. Of its trath, they, if any 
such there are, who place more reliance on dadienliths n 
-on scriptural authority, may find sufficient proof. in. the 
most unquestionable classical records. If, indeed, re! iv 
_ ance is to be placed on those records, the very best of the 
sages were chargeable with some of the very vilest 
most abominable of the enormities, which the apostle so 
solemnly charges upon the wise men in general. For the” 
rest of them, that they were “given up to a reprobate | 
mind,” the monstrous doctrines which they invented, the ; 
endless mazes in which they were bewil a 
flagitious impieties and vices which they practised 4 
selves, and approved in others, most decisively evinee. ¥ 
Tf such was the character of those who — 4 
est pretensions to wisdom and virtue—of the philosophers, 
legislators, and magistrates—what must the characte 
the great mass of the people have been? tt ppear 
deed, from the phrase, “ given up,” repeatedly use dl by 
the apostle, and with particular application to the 
men, that they, for atrociously perverting 
and knowledge, were judicially left of .G 
blindness, and to “ their own hearts’ L : 
doubt, in the sight of God, whom they would not . ‘elect, 
and by whose direction their character has been so strik- 
ingly depicted, they were ina state of deeper corruption, 


| 
K 
a 


9 
of heavier guilt, than were in gem 
ses of the people. ‘Their case, in this rv 
to that of the scribes and pharisees am. 
Odious, however, as those scribés and pharisi 
made to appear, by the great Teacher from hu 
looked into their hearts, and stripped them of . 


‘guises; they were nevertheless, in comparison W:, 


people in general, “outwardly and in the sight of me 
fair and beautiful.” So too were the wise men of Athens. 
Not only did they hold out lofty pretensions to virtue ; 


but they really appeared to be comparatively virtuous. 


What then, I ask again, must the character of the great 


mass of the people have been ? Vicious—openly and dis- 
-solutely vicious.—How could it be otherwise ? They were. 
of the same depraved nature with the rest of mankind; 
they had not the word of God to teach them the way of 
life; they had no publick instruction, religious or moral ; 
in the examples of those who claimed to be their guides, 


and even in the character of their gods, they had incen- 
tives to vice, rather than motives to virtue. Their reli- 


gion consisted in merely external observances; in ablu- 


tions, sacrifices, and festivals ; in rites and devices, some 


_ of which, though sacred to their gods, were yet most li- 
| eentious in their nature, and most corrupting in their ten- 


dency. ‘They “ walked, like other gentiles, in the vani- 
ty of their mind ; having the understanding darkened, be- 
ing alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance 
that was in them, through the blindness of their heart.” 
All classes of the people were infected with the vices, 
‘were sunk in the corruptions, so strikingly depicted by 
‘the apostle, in the first of Romans, and elsewhere. They 
lived without God in the world, were devoted to their 
idols, were enveloped in darkness, were immersed in pol- 
lutions, were emphatically dead in trespasses and sins. 
Such was the state, in which the apostle saw the whole 
2 


40 


‘such was the 
“Let us now, th Ce 
y what he was impe Sed tap dnd 


Asued.° odihad em 
AG there was arwprintig ft 
the proselytes who cident 
n the fulness‘of his heart, first appli 
what ‘success we are not informed. © 
_swwever, to the synagogue, “ he disputed dai 
‘ket place,” or publick forum; a place of g 
where the philosophers and ‘sts dlarta as v 
‘were accustomed to meet for conversation 
_ His discourses drew attention, and he was soon “ encou 
tered by certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of th 
‘Stoicks ;” two rival sects, of discordant ——— 
‘manners, but ready to unite in opposing the a sstle, and 
spurning the doctrine, of Christ. Cas are ee ; 
At the debates in the forum, the serious reasoni 
the apostle were answered with raillery and adie. 
‘Some said, “ What will this babbler say? Other some, 
He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods.” It was 
‘no uncommon thing for new and foreign deities to be in 
troduced at Athens; nor should it be thought incredible, — 
that, among a people who had altars erected to Holter, 
Liberty, Fame—to Fear, Shame, Famine, and Fever— 
“Anastasis, or Resurrection should be mistake deity. 
‘Such was the fact. Paul “ preached Jesus ai . 
surrection ;”? and some of the Athenians, some e} 
philosophers, it should seem, supposed not men 
sus was a god, but the Resurrection also a § 
he wished to have introduced and worsh' 
‘thirty thousand deities. Under this mistal 
-ducted the apostle to Areopagus: the high ind oft 
Athenians, which had existed for eae | 
a large number of the first characters of the city, was held 


| 


44 


in the highest veneration for wisdom and authority, 

the Athenians only, but by all the Greeks, and evc, 
other nations, and had cognizance of all important cav, 
especially of all matters pertaining to the publick religi. 
It was at this bar that Socrates, four hundred years b, 
fore, had been arraigned and condemned, for alleged in 
novation in religion, aud contempt of the gods. Paul, 
however, was brought thither, not so much, probably, for 
judicial trial, as for curious inquiry. 

«May we know, said they, what this new doctrine, 
whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain 
strange things to our ears: we would know, therefore, 
what these things mean.”’ They seem to have been part- 
ly in raillery, eat partly in earnest. They regarded the 
apostle and his doctrine with scorn ; yet they would have 
the court hear and judge concerning the new deities: but 
their principal motive was curiosity. “For,” says the 
sacred historian, ‘all the Athenians, and strangers who 
were there, spent their time in nothing else, but either to 
tell or to hear some new thing :” some new doctrine ; or 
some philosophical, or lice! or curious novelty. 

Too many, alas! are the Athenians of our own age: 
too many they, who attend upon the preached gospel to 
hear what the babbler will say ; who listen to the momen- 
tous truths of salvation, and of.eternity, from no higher 
motive than the gratification of an idle or vain curiosity ; 
and who, when they have heard these truths, are ready to 
treat them as old things, and to seek for something newer. 

Paul, however, though beset with triflers, was himself 
serious : and though pressed, impertinently, to deliver and 
explain, his new doctrine, he was ready to do it; but for 
purposes infinitely higher, than that of Site an idle 
curiosity, or affording matter for vain speculation. “ He 
stood in the midst of Mars Hill,” in the very centre and 

on the highest tower of gentile religion and philosophy: - 


y 12 


Aieliens composed of the me 
nd of others, senators, states n 
icians, and professors and students ¢ 
ight well have been the boast of the 
e introduction of his address, he availed hin i 
gular felicity, of two important circumstances: the un- 
ommon devotedness of the Athenians to the worship of 
the gods, and a remarkable ened 4 on one of their 
altars. pi ee TO a 
« Ye men of Athens,” said he, “1 pitdian that in all. 
things ye are too superstitious :” exceedingly addicted ta 
the worship of invisible powers. ‘The word which he 
used was ambiguous, and might be understood by them 
as expressing a trait of character, which they could con- — 
sider, not as reproachful, but as highly honourable to — 
them. ‘For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, 1 
found an altar with. this inscription: ‘ To. THE UNKNOWN 
Gon.’ ” So great was their addictedness to the worship 
of lords many and gods many, that they would even erect 
an altar to one, of whose character, being, or even name, | 
they had no certain knowledge. “ Whom, therefore, ye — 
ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” Yousup- — 
pose me “ to be a setter forth of strange gods,” and de: — 
mand of me information respecting them: but he, to whom : 
your mysterious altar is inscribed, is the Godwhom I — 
_ serve. Him would I make known unto yous and what 
relates to his will and worship is the ‘ new Spcinigotiqr ich 
I preach. ae wis Aeing 
This supreme Deity is the Creator of all things visible 
and invisible : for the world neither existed from eternity, 
as some of your wise men have supposed, nor was form- _ 
ed by Chance, or by Fate, as others haye imagined. But — 
the “ God who made the world, and all things t therein, 
seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelle th not 
in temples made with hands.” This Infinite Being, the 


18 


Maker, the Possessor, and the Sovereign of the universe, 
will not limit his presence, or his abode, to any structures, 
| however magnificent, erected by man who has his habita- 
tion in the dust. He inhabiteth eternity; and the heaven, 
and heaven of heavens cannot contain him. “ Neither is 
| he worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed 
_ any thing.” Neither temples, nor shrines, nor sacrifices, 
nor oblations—no accommodations which men can pro- 
_ vide, no services which they can render, are needed by 
_ him, for his own convenience, or happiness, or glory. In 
_ him all things consist, on him all creatures are dependent ; 
and “he giveth unto all, life, and breath, and all things.” 
_ =“ And he hath made of one blood all nations of men, 
to dwell on all the face of the earth 3 and hath determined 
the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habi- 
tations.” All men are his creatures. All the nations and 
families of the earth, by his almighty power, and under 
his beneficent providence, have proceeded from one com- 
mon stock; and the periods of their lives, and the boun- 
daries of their dwellings, are all ordered by him, accord- 
ing to the eternal counsels of his sovereign wisdom. He 
therefore, should be acknowledged and adored by them 
all, as their common Father and God: and he has so de- 
termined their times, and their habitations—so ordered 
the arrangements of his Providence, as, from age to age, 
to exhibit most striking proofs of his being and perfec- 
tions ; “that they might seek the Lord, if haply they 
might feel after hima, and find him :” that, amid the dark- 
ness and delusions of their apostacy, they might have fair 
opportunities and powerful inducements so to exercise 
their faculties, as, by the notices given them of “his eter- 
nal power and Godhead,” to be led back to the know- 
ledge and worship of him. ‘This in his infinite benevo- 
lence he has done, “ though he is not very far from any 
of mankind ;” as, were it not for moral alienation and 


44 


blindness, all would perceive: ¢ 
move and have our being.” 
your own poets have said, We all his 0] 

“ Forasmuch, then, as we are the offspring 
ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto ar 
of gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s de 
vice.” Thus to “ change the glory of the incorruptible _ 
God,” the fountain of all being and sum of all perfection; — 
“into images made like to conrtiplalded men, and to birds . 
and quadrupeds, and reptiles,” is infinitely dishonourable — 
to him,—infinitely derogatory to our own divine origin 
and proper dignity. Vain imaginations, however, have — 
for ages prevailed ; “and the times of this. ignorance God — 
winked at.” It was the purpose of his sovereign wisdom, — 
that opportunity should be afforded, amid various changes — ‘ 
of times and circumstances, for the exertions of human — | 
reason; that a fair experiment should be made, whether, — 
by tiie own wisdom, fallen men would, or could, recover — 
themselves to the true knowledge and worship: of theit 
Maker : and in pursuance of this high purpose, He al- 
lowed the gentile nations, to follow their own devices, 
‘and to go on in their own ways, without any special in- | 
terposition, for instructing them by messengers divinely — 
commissioned, and without those signal manifestations’ 0: | 
his holy displeasure, which otherwise ap norte rom 
expected. Sy ae 

The period allotted for this shad ipapiaptient 
come to a close. ‘The great experiment has been sae, 
and the awful result is manifest. Your own mysterious 
inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN Gop !—an dascriptie 
the loftiest tower of philosophy,—is a solemnly monume 
tal and most decisive attestation, that! “ THE wort BY 
WIsDoM KNOows Not Gop!” Sie” at Bret i, " 

Arrived at this momentous crisis, the egunee! of 
dispensations is now changed. A new andimostdptdrst. } 


45 


| ing era has commenced; a new and most stupendous 
Scene is opening upon the world. No longer winking at 
_ the ignorance, the delusions, the corruptions of the idol- 
atrous nations, “ God now commandeth all men every 
where to repent.”” Under his commission, his messen- 
gers are sent forth to proclaim his name, to testify his 
truth, to publish his salvation :—<“‘ to preach to the Gen- 
‘tiles, as well as to the Jews, repentance towards God, and 
faith in his Son Jesus Christ.” And to give to this great 
commission the most impressive sanction, ‘“ He hath ap- 
_ pointed a day in the which he will judge the world in 
righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained ; 
whereof he hath given assurance unto men, in that he 
_ hath raised him from the dead :’’—a fact of the most 
weighty import, atiested by the most decisive evidence, 
‘and solemnly proclaimed, as an irrefragable proof of the 
divine authority of the new doctrine which I now declare 
unto you. 
. ‘This, my brethren, was a discourse, such as before had 
never been heard at Athens. Short as this abstract is, 
(for it is doubtless only an abstract of what the apostle de- 
livered,) it presents more of just views of God, and of sound 
religious doctrine, than was to be found in all the writings 
of the wise men of Athens, and of the whole gentile world ; 
without any of those disgustful adulterations,—those my- 
thological vagaries, sophistical subtilties, or panderly ac- 
commodations to human depravity, which spoiled their 
best systems, corrupted their purest doctrine, vilified their 
highest gods, and debased their wisest men. In a man- 
ner, clear, forcible and sublime, it asserts the being, the 
unity, and the perfections of God; his creation of the 
world and all things therein; his sovereign providence, - 
extending to all nations, creatures, and events: the com- 
_mon relation of all men to him as their original Father 
and rightful Disposer, and to one another as his offspring 


46 


and of one blood ; their common dependence upon him for 
life, and breath, nil all things, and th me 
tions to Lic ang i serve, and elorify him ‘Atdis 
in a strong light the folly, the absurdity, and the’ gui 
image worship, and of every species of idolatry. | 
ludes, most impressively, to the forbearance and the wis. — 
dom of God, in affording opportunity for a full exhibition 
of the imbecility and the perversity of reason in depraved. 
human nature ; and of the fitness and the necessity of a. 
special interposition of Heaven for the recovery of man- 
kind. It announces with —— er 


high authoritative call upon all men every wh soni ie urn 
from their vanities unto the living God.» It refers, with - 
awful solemnity to the glories and the terrors of the ap- 
pointed day, when all men must stand before the judg. © 
ment seat of Christ, for final audit and everlasting retribu- — 
tion. In a word, it explodes, at once, all the vaunted sys 
tems of gentile philosophy and religion, —th e productions 
of human wisdom in the long succession of ages ; - and de. 
monstrates, incontestably, the infinite importance ‘to all 
mankind of divine instruction—of a religion from heaven— 
of such a dispensation as that of the gospel = 
But, alas! “the light shone in darkness, and the davk: 
ness comprehended—admitted it not.” Having, in so ad 
mirable a manner prepared the way, and just brought fo 
ward the gospel of Christ, the apostle, beyond doubt, in- 
tended to proceed to a more distinct declaration of its prin- 
cipal doctrines. But no sooner did he’ touch ‘upon the | 
trine of the resurrection, than his wise aud d | 
him short in his course.” “Some of. them moeked,”—be- 
gun to laugh; derided him and his doctrine, and woul 
diliaic tiene with contempt. But others said, we vi 
hear thee again of this matter.” His discourse ‘was too 


: 
5 | 


oll 


- 


ious for their vain and curious minds, and they became 

atient ; yet they had some impressions of the impor- 
tance of his subject, and like Felix, on another occasion, 
they proposed to hear him further, at a more convenient 
season. ‘So Paul departed from among them :” retired 
from that distinguished assembly, with very painful re- 
flections, no doubt, on the vanity of human b saen.: and 
the obstinacy of human pride. 

“ Howbeit certain men clave unto him and believed ; 
among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a wom- 
an named Damaris, and others with them.” Though in 
‘regard to the assembly at large, the apostle could have 
but little satisfaction, yet his discourse was not altogether 
fruitless. A few became obedient to the faith. A few, 
touched with the power of divine grace, turned from their 
idols to serve the living God, and humbly “to wait for 
his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead ;” 
and those few will shine forth, like the sun, in the ae. 
dom of God, for the joy of the apostle, and for the glory 
of the Redeemer, when all the proud monuments of Gre- 
cian wisdom shall be lost in everlasting oblivion. 

Among the many reflections, which this subject cannot 
fail to awaken in every thoughtful mind, our attention at 
present must be limited to a few, more particularly appro- 
priate to this interesting occasion. 

4. Our thoughts, in the first place, naturally turn upon 
the moral state of the pagan world. 

Upon this subject, more perhaps than upon almost any 
other of equal importance, do extremely inadequate, and 
delusive conceptions prevail. Dazzled with the splen- 
dours, particularly of ancient Greece, we are apt to per- 
ceive but very imperfectiy the moral darkness, in which © 
she was enveloped—the moral corruption, in which she 
was immersed. Delighted, charmed, transported, with 
her stupendous productions of genius, learning and taste, 

3 


18 

we are ready to imagine that she co 
nothing, which could exalt or adorn lr 
cure and promote human happiness. How 
the fact, as found by the apostle of whan? i 
glare of Grecian glory, he saw the deep depr: is y 
man nature. He saw, that with all t r boas light, the 
people of all classes were groping in fatal aandag 12 
with all their boasted religion, “ the things - which the 
sacrificed, they sacrificed to demons and not to 
_ that with all their boasted virtues, they were “ giv 
to the vilest affections and most detestable ; — 
their magnificent temples were scenes of publick poll 
—of consecrated abomination in the s t of , 
made the heavens and the earth; that their ne 
mysteries were works of daria too abominable even 
to be named ; that their inimitable produétions of g genius: 
and of art ceriel only to give grandeur to debasement 
lustre to corruption, and splendid disguise to de jlorable 
wretchedness. 

My brethren, is there any sin of sepa 
whose moral state, at this day, i is better, than was hat C 


whose favour, the admirers, or the apologists of: stall ism 
would say more, than for ancient Athen 8? We have 
heard much of India: much in praise of its re igion, of | 
its morals, of its happiness. Have we hea i, te wever, 
from any one who has viewed that empire 0 of ‘ag 
with the eyes of a Pank? Have we heard it, under ti 
sanction of Him, wliose commandments are tiie sal ane 
everlasting : * Thou shalt have no other gods before me 5” 
“Thou shalt make unto thee no graven image ;?— 

“6 Thou shalt not kill »’—« Thou shalt not commit adul- 
tery ;’7—“ Thou shalt not steal ;?—'Thou shalt 1 
bear false witness!” Are not “nedde ‘commands viol 
throughout the whole extent of pagan India, ani ayrall 


19 

asses of the people, without compunction, in the face of 

lay, and even with claims of merit? What is the concur- 

t testimony of a Schwartz, a Carey, a Buchanan, a 

pan a Teignmouth, and many others? Is not their 
witness true? Go to that land, ye who would have it 
believed, that its moral state scarcely admits of improve- 
ment, and see. Go to Banares, the consecrated seat of 
Braminical wisdom,—the Athens of the modern pagan world 
—and see if that city also is not wholly given to idola- 
try :—thence extend your survey in all directions, and see 
if the whole immense regions around are not full of idols, 
Go to the banks of the copa and behold the multitudes 
of human beings,—infants, aged and infirm,—continually 
sacrificed to that watery god :—thence look through all 
the wide,and dark realms ef Brahma, and behold the fires 
of the sacred piles, on which many thousands of widows 
are annually devoted, by his religion, to self-immolation, 
with the dead bodies of their husbands. Go to the tem- 
ples of the numerous gods :—though we will not ask you 
to look on the hideous scenes of impurity and of blood, of 
which the emblems and the proofs will be but too mani- 
fest; yet we will conjure you to consider very soberly, 
whal must be the moral siate of a people, the publick rites 
of whose religion are too revolting to be viewed by a chris- 
tian eye,—to be uttered by a christian tongue.—And is 
this the religion, on which men, calling themselves by the 
name of the Holy and Just One, so liberally lavish their 
praises! Is this the morality, which they would have our 
missionaries bring back into this country, in exchange for 
the holy christianity which we would propagate in that! 
Is the religion, or the morality better in Burmah,—in 
China—in Japan—in Thibet—in Tartary —in any part 
of pagan Asia? Is it better in the benighted regions of 
Africa—of Northern or Southern America—or in the isl- 
ands of the Southern Qcean? Are not all those nations 


20 


4 
* 


and tribes wholly given to idolatry ? 
darkness, in the shadow of death? 
changed the glory of the incorruptible 
made like to corruptible man, and to bir 
ed beasts, and creeping things? Are they not all 
alienated from the fountain of light and of pur 

tranged from the laws and the ways of righteousn 


irue holiness,—bewildered with delusive imaginations and 4 


devoted to lying vanities >—Devoid of the purifying and 


elevating principles and hopes, which point toa future 
inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth — 


not away,—and given up to vile affections, to do those 


things which are not convenient, and to perish fn their 
deceivings and corruptions! Is not this the deplorable © 


state, in which the first heralds of the gospel found the 
whole pagan world in their day? Is it not the state, in 
which all the pagan nations are to be found ‘in our own 
aze Ps Jat 

2. We are led, in the second place, to consider 
imbecility, and the perversity of human wisdom, 


The temptation offered to our first mother was, “ Ye — 


shall be as gods.” And she took of the fruit and did 


eat,” because, especially, she supposed it to be a fruit ‘ 


“‘ to make one wise,” 'This, my brethren, has been the 
fatal delusion of her posterity in all ages. “ Vain man 
would be wise.” 'To this delusion, in the sovereign wis- 
dom of God, the nations of men, for a long succession of 
ages, were givenup. ‘They were left to “ walk in the way 
of their own hearts, and in the sight of their own eyes 5” 
to give scope te their imaginations, and to seek out their 
inventions,—that their vaunted wisdom might be fully dis- 


played in its real character. What was the consequence? — 


—‘‘ Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the 


people.” The nations made to themselves “ lords many — 


, and gods many :” deified every part of the creation, and 


af 


| the world with idols. They wandered further, and 

, and further from God; the darkness in which 

they groped continually thickened ; they lost themselves 
in endless mazes, and plunged into the deepest corrup- 
tions. It was thus with the Greeks, as well as the bar- 
barians,—with those that were esteemed the wisest, as 
well as the most ignorant. So decisive was the result, 
and so humiliating, that Socrates of Athens himself, ex- 
claimed, “ You may even give over all hope of amending 
men’s manners, for the future ; unless God be pleased to 
send some one to instruct you.” Plato also said, «« What- 

_ ever is fit, right, and as it should be, in this evil state of 
the world, can be so only by the particular interposition 

of God.” 

The men who gloried in their wisdom, could neither 
reform the multitude, nor even recover themselves from 
theWelusions and corruptions of a “ world lying in wick- 
edness.” Much indeed has their wisdom been celebrated 
in all ages; much is it blazoned and extolled in the pres- 
ent age, in lands called christian,—and—lamentable to 
tell !—in pulpits professedly consecrated to Him who is 
the light of the world. We do not deny, that the wise 
men of Greece had some correct ideas relating to religion 
and morals ; some sublime conceptions of a God: some 
lofty notions of virtue, and of the supreme good. So had 
the wise men of Judea, who crucified the Holy One, and 
the Just: so too have the wise men of christian lands, 
“ who deny the Lord that bought them!” But what says 
the Apostle ?—Let his words be repeated, and never be 
forgotten. “ When they knew God, they glorified him not 
as God, neither were thankful: became vain in their im- 
aginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Pro- 
fessing themselves to be wise, they became fools ;—chang- 
ed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped, and served 
the creature, more than the Creator. And for this cause, 


22 


God gave them up to vile affections, an 
mind.” This solemn testimony of an af 
who had the best means of knowing the trut 
and wrote under the guidance of the Hein 


dom and pagan virtue. Allow to eee ancien 38 
much as you please ;—allow, if it be thought right, that. 
they were as wise, as learned, as virtuous, as alee 
brated scribes and Rabbins of the Jews; or as the phi- 
losophical deists, and rational christians of the present 
day :* but remember that, with all their viaomsind | 
learning, and virtue, they were in God’s account “ fools,” 
—men of “ reprobate minds,””—* proud, boasters, invent- | 
ors of evil things,””—* filled with all unrighteousness, — 
wickedness, deceit, and malignity.”” Remember, too, that 
of them the oracle of Jehovah said, “ I will destroy the 
wisdom of the wise, and will bring to diet aitieal | 
standing of the prudent.” | 
Theirs, my brethren, was not “ the wisdom which 

scendeth from above.” It was not the wisdom which 
“ bows down the loftiness of man, and makes low the 
‘haughtiness of man.” We censure it not. for failing to 
discover truths, beyond the power of unassisted reason to 
discover ; but for corrupting such as were known, and 
barring the mind against others. Instead of preparing the 
minds of men for a ready reception of theydoctrine o 
Christ, it 5 ugh them for the most t degpernbonasish : 


Be 
4, 


* As much as this, many of the philosophical and rational seem 
eager to claim for them. The more fully, however, this claim is ad-— 
mitted, the more clearly it will appear, of how little avail at is 
called virtue—all that is called religion—is, to bring men | to! od, so 
long as in the temper of their hearts, they are unprepared truly to 
Saoni the sentiment of him, who had been a pharisee of the strictest 
sort: “ God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord 
Jesus Christ.” wa 4 


23 


yom doctrine. Instead of being forward to bow 
efore the cross of “ God manifest in the flesh,” it proudly 
exalted itself against the “ great mystery of godliness.” 
| Never probably did the Apostle of the gentiles find. an 
| audience less open to the sanctifying and saving word of 
the gospel,—less prepared to receive Him whom God 
hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his 
blood, than the assembly of Mars Hill. To the wise men 
of Greece, “ Christ crucified was foolishness.” 

Has not the wisdom of the world preserved the same 
character tothe present day? Is it not the same in pagan 
lands, and in christian; when exerting itself to pervert 
the truths made known by the light of nature,—and those 
exhibited in the volume of revelation; when employed 
in changing the glory of the incorruptible God into worth- 
less images,—and in bringing down the supreme dignity 
of Emmanuel to a level with fallible and peccable men! 

We have heard much of the Bramins and sages of In- 
dia. But what have those wise men done? Have they 
turned the people from their vanities unto the living God, 
—from the ways of sin to the ways of holiness? Are they 
themselves prepared by their wisdom, their learning and 
virtue, humbly and thankfully te bow to the adi of 
God, and receive the word of divine truth and grace? Do 
not the very men, who so loudly extol their wisdom and 
their religion, exultingly tell us at the same time, that 
those eastern wise men will never embrace the gospel,— 
and even deride the very attempt to convert them to the 
religion of Christ! Do the men, who thus exult, and de- 
ride, stili call themselves christians! It does not belong 
to us to make out-their consistency, or their godly sincer- 
ity ; nor will we stop here to ask them, whether they have 
forgotten that the gospel is the power of God, and has often 
bowed the loftiest pride of man. It is sufficient for our 
present purpose, that they so readily admit, and so confi- 


ak 
dently insist upon the fact, that the wis 


Brahma is utterly adverse to the w 
Jehovah : and from this notorious fact | 
the wisdom of India, 1 no less. than, the v 
is foolishness with God, and such as. 
destroy. We conclude further, that, if such 
mission respecting the wisdom of pie oe I 


tended, that the e wisdom of any Sage an coun 


knew not God, it pleased God, a yee ishn s: 
preaching, to save them that beligge th aed nfini 
it seemed fit to give ample opportunity or he 
human wisdom ie make good its Preeeaeny f 
forded the most decisive evidence. of the d 
ness, naturally in the hearts of the children an ;,0f the 
complete moral ruin into which sin has broug hem 5, and, 
of the absolute inefficacy of their utmost inventions and | 
expedients, to recover them to true virtue, dignii 
happiness : and thus prepared. the way for th the fullest man- 
ifestation, that “the foolishness of God is wis 

and the weakness of God stronger. than man,” fo = 
brightest illustration of all the divine ees 


of : sony ate in the kingdom of patie: ee an 
But when the fulness of the time was pei ber sent 


forth his Son :”” and the Son, having made atonement for for 
the sins of the world, and spoiled prineipalities and p 
ers with his cross,” sent forth his ministers, with ‘he tg 


25 


commission to preach the gospel to all the nations; “to 
open their eyes, to turn them from darkness unto light and 
from the power of satan unto God, that they might receive 
forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are 
sanctified through faith in him.” The effect was trium- 
phant and glorious. The preaching of Christ crueified, 
foolishness as it was then, and has always been, in the es- 
teem of the wise men of this world, was “ mighty through 
God to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down 
imaginations, and eyery high thing which exalted itself 
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivi- 
| ty every thought to the obedience of Christ.” The prince 
of darkness was baffled,—his oracles were silenced,—his 
| temples were deserted. ‘The wisdom of the wise was 
| destroyed ; the understanding of the prudent was brought 
| to nothing; the mighty were confounded, by the things 
| which they proudly accounted weak, The darkness of 
_‘Inany ages was dissipated. Myriads in different lands, 
turned from their idols unto the living God, obtained the 
forgiveness of sins through faith in the Redeemer’s blood ; 
were sanctified through the truth and by the grace of God, 
_ and were “raised up together and made to sit together in 
heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’’ “This was the Lord’s 
doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.” 

_ 4. We are led very seriously to consider our duty in 
regard to the propagation of the gospel. 

. The stupendous dispensation of divine grace, which 
opened upon the world, eighteen hundred years ago, with 
such transcendent light and glory, still continues ; and, 
thanks to Sovereign Goodness, it is destined to continue, 
until “the gods that made not the heavens and the earth 
shall have perished from the earth, and from under these 
heavens,” “and all people shall know Jehovah, and see 
his salvation together.” If we, my brethren, are not bow- 
ing down to idols, wood and stone; if we have “ the true 

4 


Ream 
God and eternal life 3” if we have a lit ht sh: 
path to heaven, and the hope of an i 
among them that are sanctified throug 
sus: it is because we have been favor 
ous gospel of the blessed God. © 
Him who hath loved us! O when—how 
the infinite debt? Ph 
- Can we, then, think of the many millions of 
yet destitute of this supreme blessing, and 
be stirred in us? Do they not need the 
any other remedy for them 2?—They hi 
they are without God in the world; they re p 
for lack of knowledge. Their gods ¢: ynnot sav 
their wise men will not, cannot direct their feet into 
way of peace; their religion does not sanctify the heart 
or the life; does not bring them to the blood which'cleans- 
eth from sin,—does not shew them a redeeming God,— — 
does not fit them for the mansions of immortal light and 
purity,—does not dissipate the darkness which heavily 
broods over them, thickening into the blackness of eternal 
night!—The wisdom of this world has never saved any 
of mankind. It did not save the Greeks:—did not bring i 
them to the true knowledge of God ; did not lead them to — 
seek for heavenly glory, and honour, and immortality ; ; 
did not preserve or recover them from the deepest ‘moral — 
corruptions. It will never save the people of India. The | 
Bramins of India are not wiser, or better, than were the 
sages of Greece. They too change the truth of God into 
a lie; and worship and serve the creature, more than’ 
Creator, who is God over all blessed forevermore. Be- - 
wildered in endless mazes themselves, they will never 
bring the people home to God and to sie. Where then — 
shall we look for the wise men who will. lo it? Shall we 
look to the rationalists of christian lands ? Ah, how vain! 
how preposterous! “They shut up the kingdom of — 


+ 


27 


ee. men: forthey neither go in themselves, nor 
em that are entering to go in.” . Sedulously in- 

tent on “taking away the key of knowledge” from 
to-whom it has teres given, little will they exert themselves . 
for the salvation of the poor heathen ; and as little would 
all, their vaunted wisdom avail to this. momentous object, 
were it exerted to the utmost. My brethren, the heathen 
do need the gospel. There is no other remedy for them. 
» It is an impious dream of infidelity, which ought to be 
chased from the earth, down to the place whence it sprung, 
that the great Parent of the universe has designed differ- 
ent religions for different nations : and though some reli- 
gions may be better in his sight than others, yet he looks 
with allowance, and even with complacency upon all. 
What mean the denunciations of his word, so numerous, 
so tremendous, against all idolatry, and all idolaters? 
What means the great commission of the Saviour, ‘ Go 
‘ye, and disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name 
‘of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ?” 
What means the solemn declaration, “ There is none oth- 
er name given under heaven among men whereby we must 
be saved,” but that. of, « Jesus “Christ of Nazareth >’ 
“What means the whole gospel of Rail ghe entire word 

of God ? 

Since it has been cael decisively manifest, that the 
world by. wisdom will never know God, it is the gracious 
pleasure of God, by that preaching which the world calls 
foolishness, to saye them that believe. More was done 
for the salvation.of men, by the single discourse of the 
apostle of Jesus, on Mars Hill, than all the wisdom of 
the world could ever effect. "The same gospel was preach- 
ed at Corinth; and much people of that city—that sink 
of ‘corruption—were << washed, and sanctified, and justifi- 
ed, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of 
our God.’ Its triumphs were not less illustrious at Ephe- 


28 


sus, the glory of the lesser Asia—the se 
Goddess Diana. Nor was its success lin 
ished Greeks. Among the rude Galatians, 
was glorified.” Among Jews and Greek: 
Scythians, bond and free, the sanctify’ 
cacy of the doctrine of Christ crucified, 


o 


gloriously evinced. So shall he sprin 


The gospel, accompanied with the Holy 
from heaven, is still «the power of God a 
of God ;” still as efficacious as ever for the 
and salvation of mankind. cdgo aS PR tigige 


ae 


Phas, . 
Let it be emphatically repeated : The heathen need the | 
Sospel. 'They need the scriptures in their own languages. 
They need also ministers of Christ to explain the serip- 
tures, and to inculcate these words of eternal lifes “Un. 
derstandest thou,” said Philip, «, what thou readest 2” 


“‘ How can I,” said the eunuch, “except. some man guide — 
me?” 'The divine Redeemer had a perfect knowledge of 
what is needful for mankind; and. hence he appointed 
“‘some, apostles ; and some, prophets; and some, evan- 
gelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” »'The same in- 
finite goodness, which gave the written word, appointed 
also that this word should ‘be preached unto ‘all people ; 
and to say, or think, that the dispersion of the scriptures 
is sufficient, without the ministry of the gospel, is:to exalt 
the wisdom of man against the wisdom of God, even to. 
the setting aside of his capital institution... How little at- 
tention is paid to the scriptures, where there is no preach- 
ing, even in christian lands? But if the ministry of the 
gospel is necessary, or useful, in christian lands; how 
much more in pagan ? How are the seriptures to be dis- 
persed among the heathen, if there be no missionaries to 
translate and disperse them? How is the attention of the 
people to be called to them? How are they to be instruet- 
ed in them? How are churches to be formed, and the or- 


29 


| dinances of the gospel to be administered ?—We do’ not 
ead, that the nations aré to be converted, by the written 
word merely ; but we do read, that it “hath pleased God, 
_ by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe.” 
We also read, “How shall they believe in him of whom 
they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a 
preacher ? and how shall they preach except they be sent 2” 
» Like Paul, then, we, my brethren, we to whom this gos- 
pel of the grace of God has been committed, should feel 
that we are “debtors: debtors to the Greeks and to the 
Barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise,” to do what 
_ We ean to impart the inestimable blessing to them all.— 
_ How shall we discharge this debt? Shall we all disperse 
ourselves abroad, and actually engage in preaching to the 
heathen ?, No: but some of us must go 3 others of us must 
support and encourage them in the arduous enterprize, 
with our substance and our prayers: all of us must do 
something for the furtherance of this great work. The 
deplorable circumstances of six hundred millions of our 
race urgently demand it; the supreme authority and grace 
of Him, who died for us and for them impressively enjoin 
it : the signal events of this new age of wonders powerful- 
ly encourage and impel to the noble attempt. . 
Can any of us hesitate? Are any of us still listening to 
the deceitful voice of self complacent wisdom? There is 
no end to its reasonings and objections. Where is the 
wise ? where is the scribe ? where is the disputer of this 
world? ‘They have been dreaming, for ages, of enlighten- 
ing the world: but what have they done? When were 
they ever seen to stand forward in the cause of God—to 
advance, with the banner of the cross, upon the powers of 
darkness ?—to display a holy heroism in taking the prey 
from the mighty and the captive from the terrible ? Had 
the apostles listened to the wise men of Jerusalem, and of 
Athens, the nations might all have remained in darkness 


30 


to this day. If we wait for the help, or 
like minded with them, we must wait 
present generation, but all the gener: 
world, are gone to the final abode of the’ 
get God. It is time that the disciples of Je . 
een should cease to inquire of the associates of Mars | 
and give their ears and their bens a feloond 
sels and sentiments of the holy. assembly on the’ hill. of | 
Zion. It is more than time, that the soldiers of the cross 
should cease to parley with the enemies of ‘hein, 
King ; and, ardently rallying to his standard, Domest) ‘itl 
one heart and hand in the glorious: ial bde preading his 
truth, establishing his sep canny and bringing home his 
redeemed.  Sahahe ‘wor honged! 
Blessed be God, the christian: world i is vvalkiin, pl fl | 
the slumbers of many centuries. . Already many thou- 
‘sands in different lands are moved, as with one‘common ! 
impulse, to impart the word of life to the destitute. We 
hail this wonderful movement as the finger of God! We 
‘hail it as a sure and most animating prelude 'to that long 
‘expected—long prayed for day—when “ every” valley 
shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be 
made low ; the crooked shall be made ‘straight, and: the 
rough lates plain; the glory of Jehovah shall be reveal- 
ed, and all flesh shall see it together.” The word is sure ; 
| for the eae of J eleva hath ~— eine Sadhien s 
ae a? aed er ely, 
Be.Lovep MissronaRigs, pharm dad Rete * 
You have not yet visited the abodes of pligan darkinges 5 
you have not yet actually seen the corruptions and the | 
miseries of the heathen: but you have heard of — 
you have reflected upon them,—and your spirits | 
been stirred in you. They have been ‘stirred to at 
purpose. You have called to mind “the commandment 
of the everlastipg God, that the gospel should be made — 


341 


|| known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” You 
| have meditated on what was done, in obedience to this — 
commandment, by the first Missionaries of the cross, and 
| by others of like spirit after them; on what is doing in 
the present age of missions,—and cn what yet remains to 
be done. While you have mused the fire has burned,— 
| the hallowed fire of love to the Redeemer and to the souls 
for whom he died; you have spoken with your mouths ; 
_ the momentous vow is recorded in heaven, and now to be 
sealed before the ary 6 by the alone transactions of 
| tits day. 
_* You are going, dear Brethren, oo betes to the pisnlilins, 
to preach among them the unsearchable riches of Christ, 
and to do silent. you can to turn them from their vanities 
_ unto the living God. We rejoice in your noble resolve, 
and in your high destination; and we bow the knee 
in devout thankfulness to the God and Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, for the distinguished grace, bestowed upon 
you. In the multitude of your thoughts within you, may 
his comforts delight your souls. 

We are not unmindful of the sacrifices you tismake, i in 
leaving your country, and your kindred, and your fathers’ 
houses,—the scenes and connexions endeared to your 
hearts by a thousand tender ties,—and all the flattering 
promises and alluring prospects of the world. Nor are 
we thoughtless of the hardships and the perils which 
await you:—hardships in voyages, “in journeyings, in 
labours, in watchings, in fastings, in weariness and pain- 
fulness ;”—<“ perils of waters, perils of robbers, perils by 
your own countrymen, perils by the heathen, perils in the 
city, and in perils in the wilderness.”—Dear Brethren, 
shall we pity you ?—The world indeed, while it censures, 
may affect also to pity you; for“ the world knoweth you 
not, nor the things of the Spirit of God.” Our hearts, be 
assured, are tenderly touched : with sentiments however, 


32 


not of mere pity, but of what we migcht a 
envy. We remember the words o Lord 
“There is no man that hath left house, or pa nts, 
brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom ofGod’s_ 
sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this time, 
and in the world to come life everlasting,” © We: 
ber Paul, and other apostles and martyrs of the cross:— 
how they forsook all things,—suffered the loss of all thi ngs, ‘ 
“ endured afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, im- “| 
prisonments, persecutions” unto death :—é counting not. 
even their lives dear unto themselves, so that they might — 
finish their course with joy, and the ministry which 
had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of 
the grace of God :””—though “ sorrowful, yet always re- _ 
joicing; though poor, yet making many rich ; though : 
having nothing, yet possessing all things.” We glory in | 
their memory ; we admire their spirit; we exult in their — 
triumphs ; we adore the grace which was: sufficient for 
them ; we are transported with their glorious and immor- 
tal rewards. oh oteiens ait 
We look upon you, dear Brethren, as servants of the — 
same Master,——partakers of the same spirit,—deyoted to 
the same cause,—destined to run for the same prize.— 
We are only concerned, that you so run as surely to ob- 
tain. Amid, then, the thousand tender thoughts, andthe: 
thousand obtruding anxieties of this day, give yourselves” 
up for this holy; arduous, glorious service, without reserve, _ 
without regret, without fear; firmly resolving in the 
strength of divine grace to be followers of them, who, 
through faith and patience, inherit the promises. Take | 
particularly for your example, the distinguished Apostle - 
of the gentiles, and be followers of him even ashe was 
of Christ. Imitate him in love to God, in devotedness to _ 
Christ, in benevolence to men; in faith, in self-denial, in 
patience, in fortitude, in courage; in zeal, in wisdom, in 


33 


labours, in prayerfulness, in perseverance. Do this, and 
you will not run in yain. Do this, and the Lord God of 
} the holy apostles and prophets will be with you; he 
will never leave you nor forsake you; and to him you 
may safely commit your persons, your interests, your 
hopes, your work, and your reward. _ 

Your dear and honoured brethren, who have gone be 
fore you, though they have been painfully tried, have not 
repented of their enterprise: though they have met with 
many discouragements, they do not faint, or waver in 
their purpose. Who does not admire the noble, the apos- 
tolick spirit which they have displayed 2? Who does not 
daily give thanks to God for the abundant grace bestowed 
on them? They call for you; they encourage you to 
follow them. They have seen—they haye seen !—and 
their eyes have affected their hearts. 

Go forth, then, beloved brethren, in the name of Him 
who is to have the heathen for his inheritance. Go, with 
the dear partners of your hearts,—destined to be partners - 
also of your sorrows and your joys, your fears and your 
hopes, your conflicts and your triumphs, your labours and. 
your rewards :—destined, we devoutly trust, to an enrol- 
ment with HER, whose memory is so dear to all our hearts, 
and whose spirit now rests from her labours, in the bosom 
of her Saviour God !—Go—preach to the poor heathen 
the Saviour who loved them also, and died for them, 
though they have known him not.—Go—communicate to 
them the words by which they and their houses may be 
saved, and kindly guide their feet into the way of glory, 
and honour, and immortality. Go—and may the God of 
all grace go with you, and open to you a great door and 
effectual; make you successful in turning many from dark- 
ness unto light ; enable you to prepare an abundant bless- 
ing for the generations to come : Suide you evermore with 


= 


2? 


ot 


his counsel,—give you grace to be faithful un 
and, in the final day, award to each one of you: 
glory which shall never fade away. aan oat 
BRETHREN AND FRIENDS, you see ‘ae, dear M 
ries, and your hearts are touched for them. _ While, th 
this holy sympathy is warm, let us with one heart recom. 
mend them to the grace of God, for the ‘momentous work — 
to which they are appointed. Here, too, in this hallowed — 
temple, let us solemnly record the inviolable vow, that we ; 
will never cease to remember them, or to pray for them: — 
and particularly, that on the first Monday of each month, 
the season appointed in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, and. 
in this country, for special missionary prayer, we. will j 
meet them at the throne of grace, and unite with them and — 
the many thousands of Israel, in fervent supplication for 
them, for all engaged in the same great work, for the con- 
version of the nations, and for the prosperity of Zion in 
all lands. “ Jehovah hath not said unto the seed of Ja- 
cob, Seek ye me in vain.” In answer to the prayers of | 
his people, he has already done great things, and he will 
do still greater. At this very day, he is sending down © 
showers of heavenly influence upon our land, and partic- 
ularly upon our public seminaries ; raising up many of our — 
sons for pastors, and of our young men for missionaries ; | 
and. preparing the hearts of multitudes, for more and more 
| abundant freewill offerings, for his holy service in the 
spread of his great salvation. The work will prosper :— 
it will proceed until to an extent and conspicuousness, at 
which the world will be amazed, persons and property 
will be HOLINESS TO THE LoRD. ge from the Kast unto 
the West, and from the North unto the South, the song | 
shall be heard, sweet as the song of angels, “ How beau- 
tiful upon the mountains are the feet.of him that bringeth 
good tidings, that publisheth peace ; that. bringeth good | 


35 


tidings of good, that publisheth salvation 5—that saith unto 
Zion, Thy God reigneth !—Break forth into joy,—sing 
together, ye waste places: for the Lord hath comforted 
| his people ;—hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes 

of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see 
the salvation of our God.” Hatuetusan. AMEN. 


CHARGE ©) 

BY DANIEL DANA, D.D. 
PASTOR OF A PRESBYTERIAN, CHURCH IN ih ‘ 
NEWBURYPORT. yo 


Dear Breturen, 


Tue great Head of the Church has given you the desire 
of your hearts. By solemn prayer, and imposition of 
hands, you have now been constituted Ministers of Jesus 
Christ, and Missionaries to the heathen. Yes, my breth- 
ren, to you, humbly esteeming yourselves among the least 
of saints, “is this grace given, that you should preach 
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.’ 
No sublimer honor can mortals impart, or receive. With 
. the honor, are connected responsibilities and duties, whose 
magnitude the mind can but faintly conceive, and eternity 
alone can fully unfold. 

In this tender, awful moment, suffer me to stand up as 
your monitor. Suffer me, as the humble organ of this 
Council, and in His aporABLE NAME to whom you and 
we are equally accountable, to charge you to be “ faithful 
unto death.” 

As you would take heed to your ministry, take heed, 
_ first of all, to yourselves. See that your hearts be right 
with God; that your bosoms burn with love to the Re- 
deemer, love to his gospel, and love to the souls of men. 
See that you esteem even the reproach of Christ, with the 
self-denials, the toils, and the sufferings of your office, 
sreater gain than all worldly treasures or distinctions. 
. Wretched is that minister, though in comparative ease and 
affluence, who is a stranger to these principles of action, 
and these sources of comfort. But you, who are so soon 
to part with friends, with country, with earthly delights ; 
and whose future lives must be one series of exertions and 


37 


sacrifices———where ean you find a refuge, but in simple, 
ent devotion to your Master, and your work ? 

_ We trust, indeed, that you have anticipated us in these 
_ reflections. We trust that that omniscient Berne whose 
eye is this moment on your hearts, knows their sincerity. 
| Nor could we give a stronger pledge of our confidence, 
| than you have received this day. But in you, my breth- 
| ren, ordinary piety would be insufficient. To be faithful 
| and successful Missionaries, you must be EMINENT CHRIS- 
_ Trans. In purity of heart, in simplicity and elevation of 
purpose, in faith, in zeal, in self-denial, in courage, in 
fortitude, in humility, in discretion, you must far exceed 
the common standard. To this sublime object be your 
efforts and prayers incessantly directed ; and here let a 
holy ambition have all its scope. chs 

When, under the guardian care of Providence, you 
shall arrive at your allotted stations in the distant East 
and West, you will witness seenes the most painful. You 
will see rational creatures immersed in ignorance, in su- 
perstition and idolatry. You will see immorial beings 
living without God, and dying without hope. But let not 
your hearts despond. You will carry with yon the sove- 
reign balm, the universal remedy, for human guilt and 
wretchedness. You will go clothed with a divine coni- 
mission to “ open the eyes” of these unhappy beings ; 
“ to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power 
of satan unto God.” Think of Him who, from age to 
age, has raised up from the dry bones of human nature, 
armies of living Christians. And remember that though 
the power which has accomplished these stupendous 
changes has been all of God, the instrument has been his 
holy word. 

Go then, and preach this blessed gospel. Preach it in 
its power. Preach it in its native simplicity and purity. 
It is the wispom or Gon; and surely needs no human. 
admixtures, or ornaments. In erecting the temple of 


es 


38 


Christianity among the heathen, see that i s foundation 4 
and superstructure, its materials ny propo ior 
correspondent with the divine model. Rt | 

Your preaching, to accomplish its end, ‘must be plain. 

It must present the elementary truths of Christianity, in — 
their simplest form. Be content to lay aside the stateli- 
ness of learning, and to lisp awhile with those uninstruct- 
ed immortals whom you may address. Feed them with 
milk. Conduct them, by the gentlest gradations, up the © 
heights of Christian knowledge. Having taught them the 
character and _perfections of God, with the truth and in- 
spiration of the scriptures, be principally emphatical upon 
those doctrines which constitute the basis of the Christian — 
system, and the grand support of vital piety. Frequently — 
and faithfully inculcate the utter depravity of man, the — 
divinity and atonement of Christ, the influence of the 
Holy Spirit in conversion and sanctification, together 
with the distinguishing nature and evidences of saving re- 
ligion. - 

While you conceal no important truth, however morti- 
fying or humbling, be especially solicitous to exhibit the 
grace and kindness of the gospel. Let the love of Jesus 
be often on your lips, and let it deeply imbue your spirits. 
Convince, if possible, those unhappy pagans of your wil- — 
lingness “to impart to them not the gospel of God only, — 

_but your own souls.” Be assured, that sermon is essen- — 
tially defective, which does not leave on the mind of the — 
hearer the distinct impression, that the Boneh and the — 
preacher too, is his friend. r 

Inaword: preach by your practice. Let the doctri 
and duties you inculcate, be embodied in your antec. 
portment. O how eloquent, how persuasive, isa uniform, — 
pious, Christian example! Here you will be understood — 
without an interpreter. 'The beauty of holiness, like the — 
sun, is seen by its own light. If you are the living epis- — 
tles of Christ, you will be known and read of all men. 


39 


Happy indeed will you be, if, in the close of your mis- 
sionary career, you may make to those around you, the 
apostolic appeal: “ Ye are witnesses, and God also, how 
holily, and justly, and unblamably we have behaved our- 
selyes among you.” 

Your first wish, we trust, is to approve yourselves to 
your GREAT Masrer’s eye. Next to this, your hearts 
will pant for success in converting the heathen. But this 
suecess no fidelity or efforts of yours can secure. Should 
you go forth with the abilities and zeal of a Paul, and the 
fervid eloquence of an Apollos, you would but plant and 
water. ‘The increase must come from God. 'To God, 
then, pour out your ceaseless prayers for his blessing on 
your labors. Nor be discouraged, though you should per- 
ceive no immediate fruit of your pious exertions. It may 
be the purpose of God more signally to try the faith of the 
friends of missions in America, before he will grant suc- 
cess to their designs. It may be his will to train you, his 
ministers, by the discipline of adversity and disappoint- 
ment, to superior degrees of humility, of faith, and of ul- 
timate usefulness. Should you, after months, and even 
years, of anxious, indefatigable, and apparently fruitless 
exertion, perceive some symptoms of success ; should the 
Lord make bare his arm for the conviction and conversion 
of the heathen ; this will be like life from the dead. You 
will then be employed in gathering Churches, and admin- 
istering the sacraments of the New Testament, Baptism 
and the Lerd’s Supper. In determining on the subjects 
of these Christian privileges, you will need much know- 
ledge of the scriptures, much attention to the human heart, 
much accuracy of discrimination, and impartiality of juds- 
ment. May the Spirit of truth be your Guide! May you 
neither reject those whom Christ has received ; nor by a 
vague, or precipitate application of the seals of the cove- 
nant, wound the Redeemer’s cause. and injure the souls 
of men ! 


ae 


40 


Surveying the magnitude and complexity of your work, — 
with its everlasting consequences, not to yo ves alone; — 
but perhaps to millions yet unborn, you tremble; and — 
sometimes you are even ready to despond. But let not a 
sense of your insufficiency dishearten you. The cause is — 
less yours, than the Lord’s. Without his gracious 
sence, angels might shrink from so arduous a work. But 
blest with his almighty succor, you, feeble in yourselves — 
as worms, shall be made strong and prosperous. Often — 
ponder the Redeemer’s promise, made to all his faithful 
ministers, and emphatically to his faithful missionaries : 
Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world. 
Let this promise be your anchor of hope, and shield of 
defence. Let it impart comfort in despondency, and un- 
shaken courage in danger. | 

Go forth, then, our dearly beloved brethren, in the name 
and strength of the living God; and carry with you the 
prayers, the solicitudes, and the sympathies of all who 
love our common Lord. Go, cross the Atlantic wave, or 
penetrate the Western wild, fraught with the riches of the 
glorious gospel. Unfurl the standard of the eross on the 
mioriiiteiia of idolatry. Bear the flaming torch of inspira- 
tion into the gloomy recesses of ignorance and supersti- 
tion ; and pour the light of heaven on the benighted, des- 
olate minds of pagans and savages. May the wilderness 
and the solitary place be glad for you, and the desert re- 
joice and blossom as the rose! May the God of the sea 
and of the dry land go with you, and with the friends of 
your souls! May his kindest angels guard you! May his 
richest consolations evermore refresh you! May you be 
faithful unto death! And in the great rewarding day, may 
you, in the midst of thousands rescued from the jaws of 
destruction, address your Redeemer and your Judge; 
‘‘ Lord, here are we, and the spiritual children thou hast 
given us!” AMEN. 


Pi 
THE 


RIGHT HAND OF FELLOWSHIP - 
REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, 
PASTOR OF THE ‘SOUTH CHURCH IN 


ANDOVER. 


A principle runs through the Kingdom of Christ, 
| which binds the hearts of its members to one another, and 
to God. This lays a foundation for intimate fellowship : 
- for the members of Christ’s Kingdom are one. 

However divided by seas, or continents ; climes, or 
ages ; the montent they become citizens of Zion, they are 
all ons. Patriarchs, kings, and prophets; apostles, and 
martyrs ;—Europeans, Asiatics, Africans, and Ameti- 
cans; Jews, and Greeks ; Barbarian, Scythian, bond and 
free, all one in Christ Jesus. They have one God, one 
Redeemer, one Sanctifier ; are pursuing the same object, 
and inspired by the same spirit ; contend with the same 
enemies, and meet the same trials; march the same way, 
under the same Leader ; will arrive at the same place, and 
join forever in the same employment. ; 
. This lays a foundation for endearing communion, not 
only with one another, but with God. United by a prin- 
ciple, which, like attraction in the system of nature, binds 
all to the centre ; and pressed forward by the force of in- 


finite love, they will revolve, till drawn closer and closer, 
6 


42 
—they are swallowed up in the effulgence of that lumina 
ry, whose glory fills the universe, and God is axa, 1 ALL. 

On this ground, Dear Brethren, viewing you as mem- 
bers of the Kingdom of Christ, and commissioned by him 
to preach the gospel to the gentiles, we, now in the pre- 
sence of God, angels, and men, give you this RIGHT HAND : 
a token that we receive you as ministers of Christ, and 
that his ministers are onn: that we acknowledge your 
equality with us; and with all ministers of Christ, through- 
out his kingdom : and your right to all the authority, and | 
privileges of the sacred office. We also express our cor-— 
dial approbation of the service to which you are appoint- 
ed; our readiness to assist you by all the means in our 
power ; and to embrace, in bonds of christian affection, 
all, of every nation, kindred, people, and tongue, who by 
your instrumentality shall be turned to righteousness. 

Go then, in the name and strength of Christ, and may 
the Lord God Omnipotent, make you the means of turn- 
ing many from darkness to light, and prepare you, to shine 
as the stars forever. ' 

But, Brethren, your work is great, difficult, and dan- 
§erous: and requires no ordinary share of self-denial ; 
faith, and patience ; wisdom, prudence, humility, bold- 
ness, perseverance, and prayer. . 

You must forsake all: give up houses and lands ; par- 
ents and country : commit yourselves, and your compan- 
ions to the mercy of the winds, and the waves ; go into a 
land of darkness, and the shadow of death ; penetrate the 
very heart of satan’s empire ; and that too for the purpose 
of disenthroning him, and turning his subjects to God. 

Your object is, not to lead the heathen to adopt a few 
new geds, but to abandon all their old ones; to declare 
eternal war against gods whom they have worshipped 
from their infancy ; against all the gods of their fathers ; 
and fathers’ fathers ; condemn themselves, and. all others 


43 


for embracing them ; and embrace one, who was crucified, 
by a band of soldiers, on Calvary, and who, you say, has 
Tisen again. In doing this, you must contend, not only 
with flesh and blood, but with principalities, and powers ; 
with the rulers of the darkness of this world; and with 
spiritual wickedness in high places. 

But, Brethren, fear not. Behold the fishermen of Gal- 
ilee : commissioned, like you, to enter satan’s dominions, 
and bring out his captives into the liberty of the sons of 
God. Helpless, they raised their eye, and surveyed un- 
numbered millions, bound in the chains of sin, and guard. 
ed by all the powers of darkness,—yet, rising in the 
strength of God, and putting on the shield of faith, the 
breast-plate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation, 
they drew the sword of the Spirit, and went forward, 
CONQUERING AND TO CONQUER. Satan, and all his le- 
gions, driven out from strong holds which they had forti- 
fied for ages, retired in dismay before this band of mar- 
tyrs,—and they waved in holy triumph the ensigns of 
the cross : rejoicing that the excellence of the power was 
of God, and notofthem. Detiverance.ro CAPTIVES, bfoke 
from their tongues—and millions, bursting the chains of 
death, came out from their prisons—tears of repentance 
dropped from their gazing eyes,—and they melted before 
the eross of Jesus. 

If the Lord has assigned you a work among the heath- 
en, you will live to perform it. He will, give his angels 
charge concerning you: will bear you in his arms ; and 
carry you to the desired haven. Already we see your 
vessel, wafted, by the breezes of heaven, across the At- 
lantic : see perishing heathen, touched by the spirit which 
_ goes before you, burdened with sin, rising on their hil- 
locks, and looking round for a Saviour they catch a 
view of the ark, press down to the beach, and stretch out 
their arms to receive you : ate, as you go up tlie hills “ 


, Ps 
na - 


India, 
peek eeu mo 
Be that a 
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God reigneth. ” And, lo, the 

house rises on the tops of the mo 
dy love kindles on every pliant 
eense goes: up from the: whole e 


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SOCIALISM 


AND THE 


Christian Church: 


~ A SERMON 


_ PreacHep on THE Firry-Nivra ANNIVERSARY 


OF THE 


| AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 


AT 
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y.. 
JuNE 2, 1885. 


BY REV. EDWIN B. WEBB DD. | 


OF BOSTON, MASS. 


AMERICANJHOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
BIBLE House, NEw York. 


1885. 


SOCLA LISM 


AND THE 


Christian Church: 


A,SERMON 


PREACHED ON THE Fuirty-Ninro ANNIVERSARY 


OF THE 


- AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 


AT 


SARATOGA Se ReeN Gise Ne aye: 
JuNE 2, 1885. 


Eee REV. EDWIN B. WEBB DD. 


OF BOSTON, MASS. 


AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
BIBLE House, NEW YORK. 


1885. 


Suoa URO BNE: 


SOCIALISM AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 


THY KINGDOM COME.— MATTHEW vi, i0. 


Or the early triumphs of Christianity we read with delight. Its 
divine power excites our admiration. Its steady progress inspires our 
hope; our hope that it will be found adequate to cope with and conquer 
all the evils of our fallen humanity. 

My theme now is, Socialism and the Christian Church. 

Socialism has its origin a good way back in the history of the world. 
Whenever and wherever men feel the pressure of social evils, and at the 
same time see, or dream of, a better condition, then and there Socialism 
begins. Sometimes it makes itself known in low, plaintive moans, as of 
one in helpless distress, and at other times in frenzied action, as of a 
dumb creature impelled by rage and pain. 

Plato’s Republic is a protest and a plea—a protest against existing 
evils, and a plea for a better future—a revolt against the actual, and a 
reaching out after the ideal. 

In the Republic of the United States, the Declaration of Independ- 
ence proclaims every man free and equal—the equal of a sovereign—and 
proceeds to put a sovereign’s scepter, the ballot, into his hand. And 
equality thus recognized, equality in political standing, leads directly 
and surely to a demand for equality in everything—in material well-be- 
ing, social life and luxury. 

But this equality he does not enjoy. The pledge of the letter is 
broken to the life. The Socialist complains that neither in position nor 
property is he the equal of his equals. He declares himself, theoreti- 
cally, a freeman, but practically a slave—the slave of the rich, of a cor- 
poration, of competition. He labors, and the idle eat the fruit of hig in- ~ 
dustry. He waters the soil from his brow with beaded sweat, and the 
landlord coolly feasts and fattens on the harvest. Or he offers his ten- 
fingered hands in the market for hire, and nobody hires him. The re- 
sult is unhappiness; bitter thoughts and feelings; hunger, madness. 
He feels, or thinks he feels, the sting of injustice, wrong. He feels, or | 
thinks he feels, the iron heel of the oppressor. He has learned, of 


os PO Fa ek 


4 


thinks he has learned, from political philosophy—crude and hasty teach- 
ing—that all values and all property are the product of labor; and hence 
everything belongs to the laborer. The honey belongs to the bees that 
make it. 

And hence, when we come to inquire for the characteristics and claims 
of Socialism, we hear complaint; long, loud, bitter complaint, and de- 
mands, excessive, exhaustive. ° 

In other countries we might expect something of the kind—in coun- 
tries ruled despotically, impoverished by taxes to support a great stand- 
ing army, where the population is dense, and a law of inheritance keeps 
the bulk of the land forever out of the market—and we are not sur- 
prised at a discontent and defiance which marches processions, armed 
and riotous, along the streets, past government houses and rich bankers’ 
vaults; which mines palaces, and deposits, with deadliest intent, the 
murderous dynamite. 

But is Socialism here, in our rich and happy land? Where a farm 
can be had for the asking; where the facilities for improvement are 
within reach of the lowest ; where opportunities to rise from the shoe- 
maker’s last to the lawmaker’s chair, and from the log-cabin of the fron- 
tiersman to the Capitol and White House of the nation, is there anything 
to justify the presence and demands of the Socialist? Many haye been 
unwilling to acknowledge it. But itis here. The seeing ones discern 
it. The active ones meet it in almost every relation of life. The death 
of Karl Marx gave, not life, but ominous disclosure of a vast organiza- 
tion in this country—an organization, present and powerful, in all our 
great cities, and along the lines of all our great railroads. 

At Pittsburgh, Pa., only eight years ago, a gigantic conspiracy, 
startling unbelievers into a consciousness of what really exists in this 
country, broke out with the wild energy and fury of a blazing cyclone. 
Locomotives were seized, trains arrested, rails torn up, station houses 
fired, and vast accumulations of freight damaged or destroyed. Here 
was the spirit that saturated the Government buildings in Paris with 
petroleum, and then applied the torch; here the spirit that attempted 
to assassinate the Emperor of Germany, in 1876; here the spirit that 
took the life of the Emperor of Russia, in 1881. 

Other and more recent developments in this country, if marked by 
less of violence, indicate more of discipline and consciousness of 
strength. Organization, oath, obligation there must be, when the beck 
of a silent finger stops every train along a thousand miles of railroad, 
and calls every engineer from his cab. 

But the presence of Socialism in this country I need not take time to 
prove. The deaf have heard its voice. The blind have seen its works. 

And all will concede, I think, on a moment’s reflection, that a free 
Republic, like our own, affords the amplest opportunities and facilities 
for extending and strengthening and using a great Socialistic organiza- 


- >< \acnden ne eebtieannagret pe 


5 


tion. We guarantee the right of assembly. Men may come together any 
day, anywhere, and speak their thoughts, and inflame one another's 
feelings. The newspapers will report and repeat all that is said and 
done. Men may print and publish what they please, and the Govern- 
ment will transport it, and deliver it at their dictation. By the help of 
the telegraph, free to all who will pay its toll, vast bodies of men and 
multitudes of individuals may be touched at any moment, in any place, 
and moved and massed for action. So that in this country every Social- 
ist becomes conscious of the whole power of the vast organization to 
which he belongs. He knows the extent of resources at command; he 
Imows the immediate purpose; he is swept forward on the tide ofa 
mighty, common impulse. The facilities which we offer for organization 
and action cannot be surpassed. 

And, as we afford the, amplest opportunities and facilities for wide 
extension and concerted action, so we afford the readiest field. Liberty 
degenerating into license; speech that betrays the traitor, and lights the 
fagot and sheds blood—we stand and smile at this spectacle. Banished 
from the Old World, the most revolutionary agitators are welcomed to 
the freedom of the New. John Most, expelled from the Social Demo- 
cratic Party in Germany, is made a welcome and honored guest in the 
United States, and greeted by large audiences with vociferous acclama- 
tion, as he counsels them to adopt the most radical and revolutionary 
resolutions, and actually provide themselves each with a rifle, that they 
may be ready when “ clangs the fateful hour.” 

And against a voice inciting to such murderous movements we have 
no protection ; no police, no army, as in other countries. De Tocque- 
ville, long ago, pointed out to us that we have no power, in a time of 
strong excitement, to protect our cities, or preserve our liberties. 
Against an outburst of lawless violence we are helpless. Our stores, 
our markets, our banks, our courts, our jails, our dwellings, are at the 
mercy of the mob. And Macaulay has warned us—warned us in a letter 
which seems prophetic of things appalling when we hear our brethren 
from the West say: “Twenty years more, and the best land in this coun- 
try is all taken up.” The General Secretary of the “American Inter- - 
national” writes: “The day when the blind, ignorant wageworkers, en- 
during a starvation forced by the culmination of the competitive system, 
shall rise in riot for bread is fast approaching.” Experiences already 
endured show us how open is our field for any’Socialistic adventure. 

But what are the demands of Socialism? Temporarily, a change of 
some law, in this country; the right to vote, in another country; the 
exclusion of certain workmen here, the increase of wages there. But, 
at bottom, the leaders and champions of Socialism agree in three ex- 
actions: the nationalization of the land; the storing of all products in a 
common treasury, from which equal distribution is to be made; anda 
universal, common brotherhood. Great and marvelous changes these; 
but great and marvelous cures the result. 


6 


Let us consider these demands, fundamental, revolutionary, one at a 
time. 
Grant the existence of all the sorrows and evils and inequalities com- 
plained of; grant that the idle are rich, and the industrious poor; that 
the upper classes are cold and hard and arrogant; that the helpless are 
oppressed, and the landless wronged; grant that these wide-spread, 
sullen mutterings of mutinous discontent spring, not from providential 
or inherent causes, but from culpable and curable causes; is relief, or re- 
moval, or cure to be obtained by the adoption of the principles indicated, 
or by the prosecution of the schemes advocated and entered upon by 
the Socialist? Let us see. 
1. First of all, the nationalizing of the land. Suppose all the land to 
be taken possession of by the State. This, of course, is the primary, 
essential condition of equality. Henry George, who, of all our country- 
men, writes most brilliantly, if not most convincingly, on this point, says: 
““We cannot stop short of this. All land must become the common 
property of the State. Equality in its deep, full sense—equality as to 
position, as to possession, as to the means of production—when we get 
-back to the root of the matter, means this; means the abolition of in- 
heritance ; means the abolition of all private and personal property. 
Land is the common gift of the common Creator, and no man has a 
warranty deed from the original proprietor to any particular portion of 
it; no more right than he has to any particular portion of the sea or 
the air.” Well, this takes us into deep water. And “timorous mortals” 
hesitate, 


‘*¢ And linger, shivering, on the brink, 
And fear to launch away.” 


Doubtless, there is bottom here somewhere, and footing for mortal 
men. But just where? Certainly God made this land of ours, and his 
it was and is. Temporarily, his creatures, cattle, creeping thing, 
beast and bird, have possession. But possession, we grant, does not 
settle proprietorship. The creeping thing must give place, in swamp 
and forest, to other creature less prone. But the wolf may not hold 
possession against his superior. The buffalo drives off the wolf; and, if 
the buffalo can hold his ground against all comers, has he not the right? 
But the Indian wants the prairie for a hunting ground, and the beast 
must move on, or make one unconscious at the feast in the wigwam. 
But may the Indian hold possession against all comers? Not if they 
come who can “dress and keep” the ground better than he. To “dress 
and keep,” this is the one primary condition of the grant to possess. 

Now, without wading in where many are floundering, let us stop and 
see is the land best “dressed and kept” when held as a common posses- 
sion, or as private and personal allotments? This may leave the ques- 
tion of rights as to pareel, place and time, unsettled; but it fairly fronts 


7 


the Socialist’s demand. The Indians held the land in common; held it 
as a tribe, a nation; but their “dressing and keeping” did not justify 
their holding. For forty years, the American Board has been telling 
Congress, and teaching the Indian, that the tribal possession should 
cease, and they should hold the land in severalty. And experience 
proves the wisdom of the change. 

The colonies, Jamestown and Plymouth, began by holding the land 
in common. But this way was idleness and waste. The historian, 
speaking of the Jamestown Colony, says: “But the greatest change in 
the condition of the colonists resulted from the incipient establishment 
of private property. . . . So long as industry had been without its 
special reward, reluctant labor, wasteful of time, had been followed by 
want. Henceforward, the sanctity of private property was recognized 
as the surest guaranty of order and abundance.” 

Speaking of the Plymouth Colony, the historian says: “The system 
of common property had occasioned grievous discontents. The influ- 
ence of the law could not compel regular labor like the uniform impulse 
of personal interest, and even the threat of keeping back their bread 
could not change the character of the idle.” Weighty example this, and 
words instructive, if human nature be the same now asthen. In the 
spring of 1623 “a parcel of land was assigned to each family, and this 
arrangement produced contented labor and universal industry. Even 
women and children now went into the field to work.” And this was the 
beginning—this individual private ownership of land—this was the be- 
ginning of industry, of plenty, of commerce, of advancement, of eleva- 
tion, of empire. 

Mr. Webster, with his profound insight, discoursing of the first 
settlement of New England, says: “In the absence of military power, 
the nature of the government must essentially depend on the manner in 
which property is holden and distributed. There is a natural influence 
belonging to property, whether it exists in many hands or few; and it is 
on the rights of property that both despotism and unrestrained popular 
violence ordinarily commence their attacks. Their situation demanded 
a parceling out and division of the lands; and it may be fairly said that 
this necessary act fixed the future frame and form of the government.” 

In the face of such examples, and contrary to the very instincts of 
the mind, and, so far as can be shown to this hour, contrary to the in- 
terests, the industry, the elevation of society, why should we make the 
land common property? Why should we repeat the failures and the 
follies of the past? Why should we overturn the foundations of the 
Government, and revolutionize the Republic? Why should we paralyze 
the indispensable incentive to labor, forethought, economy and success ? 

But, it is said, the New Testament is authority, and the first triumph 
of Christianity an example, for having all our possessions in common. 
A poor precedent this—neither authority nor example in support of 


8 


nationalizing the land. Peter's reply to Ananias reveals clearly enough 


that the distribution which followed Pentecost was voluntary, not com-— 


pulsory. “While it remained was it not thine own? And after it was 


sold was it not thine own?” The man’s sin was in lying about the — 


price, not in possessing the land. The land the apostle recognizes as 
private property, and the product of the land as private property. A 
bad precedent, surely, for the Socialist; bad, also, as revealing a pauper 
tendency even in the temporary distribution of goods. There followed 
soon, altogether too soon, the necessity of taking contributions for the 
poor saints at Jerusalem. A common treasury graduates its pupils into 
common beggary. 

And yet our logic goes not to the other extreme, that one man, as 
Pharaoh in Egypt, should own all the land. Was not that selling of all 
the land to the king a nationalizing from which Egypt has not re- 
covered, even to this day? Nor should a few men, as in England, hold 
all the land. It is not right that millions of acres should be kept as a 
deer park, or shooting grounds, while millions of men hunger for the 
bread that these same acres would produce. Good men are recognizing 
this fact, and already taking steps to correct it. At a meeting of influ- 
ential land-owners in England, recently held, the Duke of Argyll and the 
Marquis of Ripon, with other dukes and marquises, resolved to take 
steps for the formation of a large corporation, to be called “The National 
League Company,” to be organized for the purpose of securing a gradual 
breaking-up of the large parcel system of land-ownership now injuriously 
prevalent in Great Britain.” But this is not to nationalize land, for 
which no warrant can be found, either in the constitutional instinets of 
the mind, or in the history of peoples. At this point, common experi- 
ence, great precedents, the wisdom of the world, and the teaching of the 
New Testament, are against the Socialist. 

And yet the Christian idea is that man is not the owner of anything. 
God is the owner, man his steward; a steward, having a life interest in 
his home, and responsible to God for the use of it. The parable of the 
rich fool ends thus: “This night thy soul shall be required of thee ; 
then whose shall all these things be?” To possess as though one pos- 
sessed not, to be rich and give to the poor, to be the greatest and yet 
the servant of all, this seems to be the Christian idea. 

2. The second point to be considered is this: The storing of all prod- 
ucts in a common treasury, from which equal distribution is to be 
made to all producers. The common interest is to supplant and absorb 
the individual interest. All things common. Competition closed. Oo- 
operation forever, and in all things. Well, suppose the fruits of the 
land and the sea, the products of the flocks and the herds, the yield of 
the farm and the factory, all gathered into one common treasury. Are 
you sure it is all in? No Ananias nor wife to swear that a part is the 
whole? Allin? Produce every one must according to his full abilities. 


205 wpb 


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9 


This is a vital part of the theory. No idler, no drone, in the com 
munity. Every one has given the full measure of time, and the willing 
strength and skill of ready hands. Who-knows? 

But now for the distribution to the individual, to the family. On 
what condition? On condition that every one has contributed his full 
share. On what principle? On the principle that every one produce 
according to his abilities, and consume according to his wants. But here 
practical impossibilities confront the theory. Who, save the omniscient 
One, can determine what any man’s real abilities are, or whether he has 
exerted them to their full extent? Who, save the omniscient One, can 
determine what any man’s real wants are? Producers and consumers 
stand together about the same crib—the infirm, the sick, the helpless, 
left behind—and each one asserts his rights, and insists on the supply of 
his wants! Not now does the omniscient One appear to judge and rule 
among them. Men must pronounce sentence between the contending 
parties; men interested like the contestants; men of the earth, and not 
men imported from some other planet ; men subject to the same infirmi- 
ties, actuated by the same motives, and liable to the same passions as 
other men. At best, the judgment is human, partial, imperfect. And 
yet this judgment must be final, supreme, satisfactory, else the contest 
and the deep discontent out of which Socialism grows must go on. No 
Socialistic scheme can be operated without men; and there is no pro- 
vision for renewing and perfecting the character of men. So that to 
make a future judge supreme is only to put one man in the place of an- 
other; a future good man in the place of a present good man; a future 
corrupt man in the place ofa present corrupt man; a future despot in 
the place of a present despot. Everything depends on the character 
of the man; and, human nature being such as it is, imperfect, selfish, 
and human abilities and wants being such as they are, unequal, 
variable, and the supreme power being vested in some man, or set of 
men, to decide among selfish, clamorous claimants and contestants, the 
new order proposed can be nothing but the old renounced order, under 
another name. It is the same family, in a new house; the same family, 
with all their old passions, prejudices, peculiarities, jealousies and strifes. 
It is the same vicious, balky horse, in a new harness. Socialism must 
be operated by men; and so long as the character of man remains the 
same, any change of system is “to change the place, and keep the pain.” 

And in this conclusion we are confirmed by the condemnation of the 
earlier Socialists by the later. The present Socialistic writers have the 
history of the pioneers to consider and criticise. And nothing can ex- 
ceed the fierceness with which the earlier schemes and schemers are de- 
nounced. Leaders quarrel and separate, and the factions are mutually 
condemned as worthless. New parties are formed to propose and propa- 
gate new schemes, and still the causes of bitterness remain; and to the 
sullen moan of deep discontent is added the sharp curse of crimination 
and recrimination. 


10 


Meantime, is it not worth while just to glance at an item or two in 
the working of the present organization of society? The best wheat in 
the world, perhaps, is grown on the virgin soils of Minnesota and Da- 
kota. It is ground in the flour-mills of Minneapolis, surpassing, I be- 
lieve, in volume of power and production, all others, and put into the 
commerce of the world. It costs from fifty cents to one dollar to lay a 
barrel down on the Atlantic coast. That is to say (if my figuring is cor- 
rect) that beautiful white loaf upon the breakfast table in Boston or 
New York, is brought all the way from the harvest-fields of Dakota for 
one-half acent. And is it co-operation or competition that gives us this 
cheap transportation? Competition is the monster, which, in the imagi- 
nation of many a Socialist, seems to be devouring all his profits and 
prospects. But how is the distribution of bread to be made cheaper? 
Corporations and competition, railroads and rivals! Too many Socialists 
forget that the ordinary workingman derives an immense advantage 
from these. The community is often benefited ten times as much as the 
corporation. 

This marvelous distribution of the product of the great wheat-fields is 
a fair specimen of all distribution. One cent a bushel, one mill a pound, 
is what the people pay for the distribution of the great staples of the 
country. One-quarter of a cent a yard on the cost of production deter- 
mines the market of the largest manufactory, and lays the superb text- 
ure of the costliest loom at your door. By what method is it likely to 
be done for less? Co-operation—on the other hand, how many of us 
could stand our share in the disastrous shrinkage and loss of the 
strongest corporations of the country for the last three years? 

And when times are good, and stockholders receive dividends, who 
gets the great bulk of a year’s product? The rich land-owner cannot 
work his thousands of acres with his own hands. Much less can he 
wave a wizard’s potent wand over hill and valley, and change the 
prairie grass into corn and wheat. The result of much study goes to 
show that it costs ninety per cent. of the annual product of farm and fac- 
tory to produce it. That is to say, the workingmen, so-called, get nine- 
tenths of all products or profits, to start with. This leaves one-tenth 
still to be distributed. Towhom? A part of this one-tenth must go to 
keep up, repair and renew the farm and the factory. And then a part of 
this one-tenth must go to feed the proprietor, and furnish men and 
women to carry on the work of his home. The plant must be kept in 
the best condition, and the proprietor must live. So, after the nine- 
tenths, which have been distributed before the owner gets a dollar, a 
good part of the other tenth,goes in the same way—into the hands of 
those who do the manual labor. And hence the small annual inere- 
ment of capital—one per cent. That is, the wealthy land-owner, or 
manufacturer, can expect for the use of his capital, and the labor of his 
brain, year by year, an increase of one per cent. Nine-tenths of the 


11 


whole of the annual product goes into the pockets of the workingmen, 
and nine-tenths of the other tenth. The richest man in all this country 
is obliged to give most of the profit of his yearly business to those who 
work for him. The “railroad magnate,” whose prosperity excites the 
envy of the multitude, takes a barrel of flour from the canal, and lands 
it in the market of the great city for one dollar instead of four dollars. 
Of the three dollars thus saved, the consumers get the whole. For him- 
self and his associates, he got, perhaps, ten cents. 

The theory, therefore, with which the Socialist fills his imagination, and 
on which he proceeds, which is often summed up in such phrase as, “ the 
rich are growing richer, and the poor are growing poorer,” is not true, is 
not possible in this country. More people are rich, and more people are 
poor to-day than ever before in this country, because there are more people 
to be rich and poor. Here and there is an exceptionally rich man. But 
the people, as a whole, have increased in wealth, especially through the 
last fifty years. Labor is better paid by forty, fifty, and even sixty per 
cent.; and a day’s wages buys more to-day—from twenty-five to forty- 
five per cent. more—than it did fifty years ago. The masses of the peo- 
ple never possessed so many of the comforts and conveniences of life as 
to-day ; never were so well fed and clothed, and housed and educated as 
to-day. The mountains are not rising and the meadows sinking; the 
whole land, (mountains, hills, plains, meadows, and valleys) is rising; the 
people possess more, enjoy more, and havea better prospect. Doubtless 
cases of oppression, of extreme poverty, of pitiful suffering, on which 
false theories may be built, are still found; but the products of the world 
are becoming yearly more justly and more generally distributed. Out 
of no common treasury could the wants or the contentment of the work- 
ing-men be so well provided for. By no communistic theory could the 
present rate of progress be sustained. 

3. Another great aim of Socialism is to establish among all men fra- 
ternity, brotherhood. Pleasant words, these; and a good desire that 
from which they spring. ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for 
brethren to dwell together in unity.” 

But the question here is this: Does Socialism offer a foundation for 
fraternity? Is Socialism a parent whose offspring is brotherhood? And 
from every point of the compass comes back one uniform, unequivocal 
no. At the very best, Socialism is working for a class, an association, an 
organization. Its spirit seems to be to pull down those who are high- 
est, rather than lift up those who are lowest. It talks of “ encouraging 
the spirit of brotherhood,” of “the maintenance of fraternity.” But 
these, evidently and only for its own. For, in the same breath, it talks 
of their organized and arduous effort to “classify and study our ene- 
mies,” “to arouse and maintain a spirit of hostility,” “to prepare for the 
coming social revolution.” Doubtless there is something in almost every 
community to move the feelings which these phrases indicate. And some 


. 12 


writers see only the sick, the infirm, the aged, the impotent, of which there: 
are always many to be tenderly cared for. And some crities find little 
to profit in any discussion of this subject that does not overflow with — 
sympathy and gush. But the voice of Socialism is not the cooing of a 
dove. The spirit of every representative association is war on the pres- 
ent structure and methods of society. Its acts are supremely selfish. 
Its attitude is provokingly defiant. The orator of the sand-lots of the 
Pacific Coast cries, in his shirt sleeves, to the throngs that greet him in 
the capital of New England: “Let Fall River remember that Moscow 
was burned toashes.” “ Labor must be crowned king even if it wades: 
knee deep in blood.” Burnette G. Haskell says, speaking of the aims 
and demands of Socialism: ‘These questions can be decided finally 
and forever by no other means than by the sword of war.” Then, look- 
ing forward to some great upheaval, he says: ‘“ When the rising—which 
will be one of blind, wrathful, ignorant producers—comes, then must the 
Socialists of America be prepared to unfurl the scarlet flag, and, with it 
in hand, head the assault as the leaders of the people, pointing out to 
them not only their wrongs, but their only salvation—free land, free 
tools, and free money!” This is their attitude toward the present con- 
stitution and customs of society. Brotherhood here? The most pow- 
erful microscope cannot discover any germs of it. 

And the history of Socialistic organizations shows that something of 
the same antagonism exists among themselves. They oppose, and con- 
demn, and denounce each other’s organizations. They areready to break 
the head of one of their own number, who, tired of the emptiness of the 
strike, seeks work in another organization. Schwab sits up late to sell 
more beer than Swarts; and Feld carries swill-milk from the same cow, 
at nine cents a quart, to both their babies. Those that would be Chris- 
tian, like St. Simon, and Kingsley and Maurice, are hustled to one side, 
or left behind; while the atheistic, like Proudhon, who ery, “God is 
evil,” and “the church is ever in conflict with justice,” are placed at the 
front. Small foundation of brotherhood hens Nothing resembling it, 
in sight. 

And then the way in which the present order and methods of society — 
are to berevolutionized, and property change hands. Is there brotherhood ~ 
in violence, robbery, revolt, and anarchy? A beautiful structure is the — 
vision that rises before them; but evidently there is no foundation on 
which to rear it. A happy result is aimed at; but Socialism shows no 
cause to produce it. As well grow wheat from thistles, as well hatch — 
the oriole from the viper’s egg. 

Common land means common idleness and beggary; equal distritaas 
tion from a. common treasury paralyzes the strongest incentive to indus- — 
try, energy, and invention which is known to man; and brotherhood, 
without a common father and filial piety, is a name and a mockery. One 


foundation and condition of brotherhood in all this wide world; only one, — 


. 
13 e 
and that the Fatherhood of God gratefully and obediently acknowledged, 
and the brotherhood of Jesus Christ—brother and yet redeemer—joy- 
fully accepted and honored. 

The brotherhood of Socialism begins in selfishness, and, however in- 
tricate the way, comes back to the center from which it started. It is 
selfishness, pure and simple, exclusive and intense, no matter by what 

_hhame it is called. And since the world began selfishness has never been 
a foundation on which brotherhood could stand. No self-interest can 
create it, no social aspirations can beget it, no prospect of an 
easier life, no promise of the spoils of revolution, can es- 
tablish it. The essence of brotherhood is found only in a regen- 
erate heart; in a heart touched anew by the divine power, 
radically changed, and vitally united to Christ, who is the essential light 
and life of all who come into the kingdom of heaven; the light and the 
life after which humanity, diseased and distracted, blindly gropes. Ex- 
cept as men partake of his qualities, and enter into his designs, there is 
no brotherhood. 

And here shines out the divine wisdom and grace. A remedy for all 
human ills, inequalities, burdens and trials, is found in the religion which 
recognizes the sinfulness and selfishness of the human heart and applies 
the healing there. Christianity that is to transform the world, begins 
its mighty career by transforming the individual human heart, and 
through the heart sends a flow of fraternal sympathy and love into all 
the arteries of society and government. The Christian religion makes 
the fountain pure and sweet, and thus cures all the streams. And not a 
few of these Socialistic reformers, like the loftier spirits of heathen ages, 
have felt the need of help from above. Struggling with difficulties that 
they could not master, or rising to some lofty eminence of spiritual vision, 
and catching sight of the divine method and the divine man, they have ac- 
knowledged the necessity of regeneration. Blotches and boilsmay cover 
the skin and the heart remain sound. But when the heartis diseased the 
whole body is sick. No outward change of condition can repair the life. 
There must be a renewing, an individual, spiritual renewing of the heart, 
and that introduces the man into a Socialism where “one is your mas- 
ter, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” Under the mastership of 
Christ alone is there a life of brotherhood. 

And here we have come, almost unconsciously, to the other part of our 
theme, the Christian church. Christianity is the cure for the evils of 
which Socialism complains, and of Socialism itself. And the Christian 
church is entrusted with the divine remedy, and held responsible for its 
use. The gospel of Christ is instinct with a vital energy, adapted and 
adequate, to establish the kingdom of heaven for which we pray— 
adapted and adequate to cure Socialism itself, as well as the evils out of 
which it grows. The kingdom of Satan is here; but Christ came to de- 
stroy the works of the devil. Christ came—it cannot be too often in- 


‘e 14 
sisted on—Christ came to establish his kingdom on earth—his kingdom ~ 
of love and good will and brotherhood among men. He is the perfect 
model, the ideal man, and his kingdom the perfect society. “Thy 
kingdom come.” This is our prayer. Not the semblance of it, not the 
reflection of it, but the kingdom itself, in truth and right. Not for a — 
mechanical union forced upon the inhabitants of earth, do we pray, but 
for a spontaneous, vital union; a union filled with all the pure leaven of 
charity and affection. “Thy kingdom come.” We are to pray this — 
prayer evermore, everywhere. And for the coming of this kingdom 
labor—labor as men called of God and commissioned. And, notwith- 
standing the antagonism which exists between Socialism and the Chris- 
tian church, there is much to encourage us. 

1. In the first place, Christianity and Socialism have much in com- 
mon, and soa ground of sympathy. Both recognize wrongs to be re- 
moved. Both aim at a better future. It is a thought variously ex- 
pressed, and often met with in writings upon this subject, this: “Every 
active Christian who makes conscience of his faith has a Socialistic vem 
in him; and every Socialist, however hostile he may be to the Christian 
religion, has an unconscious Christianity in his heart.” And there is 
truth in the statement. Could Socialism recognize the true cause of 
earth’s woes, and appreciate the divine remedy, there would be still 
more incommon. But, as it is, the recognition of wrongs and suffer- 
ings, everywhere and unspeakable, and a resolute purpose to better the 
human condition, is a ground of contact and affinity. And, turther, 
Christianity has quickened, if not awakened, in us all, certain feelings 
and dispositions which respond to the just claims of a ¢rwe Socialism. 
Indeed, we may go further, and question, if mdeed it be a question, 
whether anything in all the world has done so much to foster and justify 
a true Socialism as the Christian religion. In wisdom, and power, and 
justice, and truth it is still far ahead, as it always has been, of Socialism. 
It commands with a matchless authority. It speaks from hights above — 
the clouds. It thunders at the cold, hard, haughty indifference of the — 
rich, and utters a condemnation that makes the stoutest quail. “Your 
riches are corrupted, and the rust of your gold and silver shall eat your 
flesh as it were fire. Behold, the hire of the laborers, who have reaped 
down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, erieth ; and the 
cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of ~ 
Sabaoth.” With an eye dimmed by no cloud of selfishness, thus search-_ 
ingly Christianity looks into the relations of men, and with a pure jus~ 
tice thus appeals to the throne and help of the Almighty. Socialism, — 
instructed in the sanctuary, taught to read the New Testament and the 
history of the Christian church, must appreciate such anally; and, seeing — 
with what a clear vision it looks down into the darkest depths, and — 
scans the remoter causes, and yet with a radiant finger points upward — 
and onward, must fall into the ranks, and march with the disciples. 


15 ® 

2. Another encouragement is found in what Christianity has already 
accomplished. Jesus Christ came laden with blessings for the poor and 
the meek. The church showed itself at the first the benefactor of the 
oppressed, the friend of the friendless, and the helper of the helpless. 
Breathing the spirit of the Master, the church has already, in a thousand 
ways, through social, civil, and ecclesiastical relations, befriended and 
blessed every class of the community. Wonderfully has it alleviated the 
condition of the masses, improving and elevating them materially, intel- 
lectually, and morally. The religion of the Christian church helps men 
to better houses, and better food, and better education, and better laws,. 
and to an altogether better life. The church is arraying her celestial 
forces more and more against war—against war, that scourge and de- 
stroyer of poor men. Christianity, with a most sensitive and sympa- 
thetic ear, hears the moan of the distant epidemic, and with a true be- 
nevolence sends her devoted physicians and trained nurses into the very 
breath of the pestilence, to bestow the precious fruits of medical skill and 
ripe experience upon the desponding and the dying, without money and. 
without price. She hears, also, the dull cry of famine in foreign lands, 
and loads the swift ship, and spreads her white sails, and turns her benef- 
icent prow to the shores of the starving poor. Much already is accom- 
plished. The chasm between the poor and the rich is not so wide, nor 
so deep, nor so impassable as once it was. That dark gulf has not only 
been bridged so that here and there a fortunate traveler may cross ; that 
deep, dark gulf, so far as this country is concerned, has been filled up 
with pure, healthful, Christian material, so that to-day, as across a well- 
watered field, sloping away from the rich domain of the hills to the 
tawny sands of the desert, a thousand paths, well-worn, prove the pass- 
ing of thousands from the side of the rich across to the side of the poor, 
and other thousands and more from the side of the poor to the side 
of therich. The millionaire of to-day is found struggling for bread to- 
morrow. The working man of yesterday is the millionaire of to-day. 
And the religion of the Christian church has a word of instruction and - 
blessing for them both. She teaches them that the Lord bringeth down 
and lifteth up. She bils them recognize an over-ruling Providence, and 
be humble and be patient. Man, however prescient and strong, cannot 
guide Arcturus with his sons; cannot direct the cyclone, nor stay the 
plague; cannot give fruitful seasons, nor fill the empty sails; cannot 
give blood to the heart, nor thought to the brain. “'There’s a divinity 
that shapes our ends.” There is a God above, who rules in heaven, 
and orders the affairs of earth. Christianity helps us to recognize his 
hand and bow submissively to his will, both when he maketh rich and 
when he maketh poor. 

It is a stupendous mistake to think, or speak, or write of the Chris- 
tian church as the enemy of the poor man. The Jews and the mob 
thought that Jesus was their enemy, and cried: “Away with him! Cru- 


» 16 


cify him! Crucify him!” But the slowly revolving ages have reversed 
that mad sentence; and now the inspiring call is: Adore him! Adore 
him! Enthrone him, all ye nations, with his scepter supreme on your 
affections. Crown him, ye people, as your king! And, in the light of 
coming ages, more and more is it yet to be seen that his life of self-denial 
is the true ideal life, and the Christian church, organized not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister unto others, is the true ideal society. 
It takes time to work out great principles, and accomplish great, upward 
social revolutions. But there is not a poor man to-day, with anything 
like a just discrimination, and a fair degree of intelligence, who does not 
know that the Christian church is his best friend on earth. The church — 
must go on in the line of the past, true to her origin, adding to her his- 
tory. The hope of the world is in the Christian church. 

3. Another encouragement is found in the fact thatthe religion of the 
Christian church is changing the character and currents of political 
economy. Man is no longer regarded as an animal to be housed and 
fed, but as a moral agent, with intellectual, sociai and spiritual wants. 

And political economy is no longer an abstract science, with conclu- 
sions deduced from certain assumed axiomatic views of man and nature, 
but the results and embodiment of a particular, practical observation, 
and the reasoning from certain facts, evils, principles, and tendencies of 
common experience. 

And, without undertaking to settle the points still in dispute between 
the different schools, Christianity says, if man is to be freeto choose his 
place and employment, that freedom must be restrained by the principles 
- of the gospel. And if man is to be restrained by the State in his choice 
of an occupation, a career, and a competition, that restraint must be ac- 
cording to the freeness of the gospel. Henceforth, equity, right, religion, 
shall bind his liberty and loose his bondage. 

And those who are for introducing and applying the principles of the 
New Testament to the life and progress of political economy, if less 
demonstrative, are certainly more devoted in the pursuit and establish- 
ment of fundamental principles. Great scientific movements are not led 
by a brass band. Great revolutions are not the offspring of street 
parades. Great changes, violent or peaceful, are born of convictions— 
deep, established, living convictions in men’s souls; convictions whose 
rumbling is sometimes heard like the smothered forces ‘of the earth- 
quake, and sometimes seen in fearful action, like the lurid flashes of the 
yoleano. The convictions that are to rule the political economy of the 
future are now being thought out among the leaves of an open Bible and 
the teachings of Jesus. More and more of an ethical, moral character 
the problems of social economy are taking on, and more and more evi- 
dent is it that they must be solved, not by @ priori reasoning, but by 
the touch of Christ’s living hand. Plato dreamed a dream which was 
not alla dream. The prophets of the Hebrew nation announced truths 


17 e 


in the midst of their fiery rebukes which are yet to supplant the princi- 
ples of evil, and give us a social science in harmony with, and helping 
on, the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ came to establish the kingdom of 
heaven on earth; and many a disciple to-day, withdrawn from public 
gaze, in sympathy with the Master, is pondering the questions of politi- 
cal economy, applying the dictates of conscience and the teachings of 
the gospel. And thus, by the influence of Christian thought, and the 
power ot Christian convictions, society is to be influenced and transformed, 
and the problems of life solved in the spirit of the New Testament. How 
rich and varied the blessing! The Christian religion, brought home to 
men’s daily life, soothes the hunger of the body by the provisions for the 
soul ; infuses a father’s love into the sternest dispensations of life; sheds 
a tender, divine light upon the rigors of the hardest economy. It links 
the material with the moral, the present with the future, the human with 
the divine, and diffuses a spirit of mutual love, charity, and helpfulness 
among all classes, and into all relations. 

4. And, once more, we are encouraged to preach the gospei for the 
correction and cure of social evils and of Socialism itself, because it sus- 
tains the institutions aid laws of the legitimate government, and at the 
same time supplies the strongest motives to an abundant charity. 

There is a manifest tendency, as secret organizations grow strong, to 
oppose the civil government, and trifle with its laws. Christianity tol- 
erates noth ng of the kind. “The powers that be are ordained of God. 
Therefore, he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the orainance of 
God; and they that withstand shall receive to themselves judgment.” 
Obedience is the first duty of every good citizen ; obedience not only in 
view of the sword, but for conscience sake ; obedience out of regard toa 
just and holy God and with reference to eternal consequences. No in- 
struction for the citizen is so plain and so positive as the teachings of 
the New Testament. No motives so high and so powerful can be named 
as those which it constantly presses upon the conscience. Resistance to 
the government, conspiracy against laws—these have no place in Chris- 
tian thought—none, until government and law are corruptly set against 
the government and laws of God. Let every soul be in subjection to 
the government as an ordinance divine. 

But as we have Calvary over against Sinai, not quenching its flames, 
but rather hel; ing us to meet its demands, so, in the gospel of this same 
book, we have the strongest motives to the exercise of charity, along 
with the sternest exactious of law. The soul that sinneth shall die; and 
yet the dead in sin are offered eternal life in Christ crucitied. The idle 
shall not eat; and yet a blessing is pronounced upon those who give to 
the poor. A claim to be ministered unto is not sustained either in the 
example or teachings of Jesus; and yet on the rich and prosperous is 
imposed this perpetual obligation: ‘“ We that are strong ought to bear 
the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” Man is a sub 


18 


ject, is under law; and yet, since the promise made at the gate of Eden, 
man has not been under law alone, but under grace as well. Grace has — 


kept the bow in the cloud. Grace has not repealed the penalty, but it 


has changed it into chastening. Grace has not lowered the law, but ) 
grace has lifted up the transgressor and inspired him to keep the com- 


mandments. Ah, this spirit of the gospel, uttered in paradoxes and an- 


tagonisms, how it softens the hard heart, and ministers to the depend- 


ent; how it levels the mountains, and elevates the valleys: how it makes 
the distribution of wealth a heavenly grace and crown: how it takes the 
sting out of poverty, and bitterness out of loss, and envy out of inferior- 
ity. 

The laws of the land are not perfect. The government humanshould 
be organized more in accordance with the government divine. But 
when we have attained unto this wisdom, and when we are able to do all 
that justice and love can do through the State, there will remain great 
deserts and alkali plains, and cold mountains and frozen seas. And there 


will also remain disease in our bodies, and sorrow in our homes, and — 


trials and disappointments all along the earthly pilgrimage, and selfish- 
ness in human hearts, and strife and envy and hate in every community. 
The innocent will continue to suffer, and the wicked to flourish. Beyond 
all the provisions, beyond all the power of Socialism, we shall have wants 
unsatisfied, and afflictions unhealed. "We must have what Socialism does 
not offer ; we must have the anticipation of another life shedding its 
softening, healing, transforming influences down upon this. We must 
have a recognition of the powers of the world-to-come to regulate the’ 
conduct of the present. We must have just that pardon and peace and 
promise which the gospel brings to transform human character and re- 


deem human life. This is our childhood, our probation, our school — 


time. And what if restraint, and denial, and discipline are required in 
these earthly relations ; and what if the lessons are sometimes long and 
hard; and what if some of us have to stay and study after the more 
fortunate have gone to play? Are not restraint and discipline among the 
conditions of the noblest manhood, here and now? And, lifting up his 
eyes and looking to the higher plane, who, that with spiritual vision, an- 
ticipates immortality, can complain? Inequalities, reverses, trials, sor- 
rows, sufferings; have we not in these the conditions for the development 
of the perfect man? Even the blessed Master had not where to lay his 
head ; was resisted, repulsed, reviled, rejected ; even he was made perfect 
through suffering. But his exaltation is proportioned to his humility. 
And sympathy with him makes the hungry man content with his gritty 
crust, because he is soon to partake of the finest of the wheat. Union 
with him makes the ardent man patient; for he has the promise of 
triumph. Loyalty to him makes the poor man heir to an inheritance, 
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. The strongest, sub- 
limest motives to the truest, highest end, the Christian church is called 


eS —— LL rll ee 


i9 


and commissioned to preach and press home continually for the benefit 
_ of the life that now is, as well as for that which is tocome. Thy king- 
dom come. 

And now, dear brethren, for the conclusion—the conclusion to be 
borne away in all our hearts. 

Necessity is laid upon the American Home Missionary Society. So- 
cialism is increasing, is developing in forms and scenes that imperil all 
our industries and institutions. And the rapid increase of Socialism is 
intimately associated with the loss of religious faith and life: so inti- 
timately associated with religious decline and unbelief that many con- 
clude that the loss or faith is the cause of Socialism. Then our first 
necessity is a revival; a radical, powerful revival of true religion in all 
our hearts, and inallour churches. Spiritual things, present, seen, felt ; 
an unfaltering conviction of the truth of God’s holy Word; a sense of 
immediate responsibility in view of what is before us and about us; 
sympathy with the apostle who cries, « Woe is unto me if I preach not the 
gospel !”—here is our need. 

Necessity further. We see how rapidly the land is filling up, and 
with what classes. Some are good; but with the good come the wicked, 
the ignorant, the prejudiced, the anarchist, the atheist: and they come 
in apalling numbers, throbbing with intensest vitality, end enjoying 
freest opportunity. The drift is away from the churches, to the gardens, 
to the field, to the theaters. The fashion is helped on, I grieve to say, 
by some of our own pecple, to question and despise the authority of 
Revelation ; to undermine the Christian Sabbath, and leave it without di- 
vine support, and every man at liberty to keep it as he likes. Upon the 
church of Christ rests the responsibility—upon the churches associated 
in the American Home Missionary Society rests the heavy responsibility— 
of resisting the drift and fashion of the times, and of maintaining heroical- 
ly the divine Word and the divine authority. True, we have our free 
schools, but less and less of Revelation and religion in them: and this 
less, nay the character of the school itself, in peril of overthrow. And, 
education without religion, the full development of all the intellectual 
powers without moral convictions to restrain or guide—what is this 
but a sharpened ax in the hands of an unprincipled and impious agent ? 

True, we have our numerous ‘reeholds ; but what if some form of So- 
cialism combine the rural population as producers against the corpora- 
tions and the cities and the churches? This is not an achievement to be 
anticipated, we are told. We hope it may never be. 

But with what is inherently conservative and hopeful, we must re- 
member history, and consider what is possible. All over the land, like 
the frogs in Egypt, and no wand to wave them back, have come up lec- 
turers and preachers and periodicals and papers. In every State, in 
every city, in every little village, the seeds of aninfidel philosophy and of 
religious disbelief are plentifully sown. And the harvest, who knows— 


20 


if the church rise not up and put forth all her might—who knows what 


the harvest shall be? Was not the French Revolution, the principle and — 


power of which many a Socialist commends—the revolution which brought 
down the brightest lights in that brilliant firmament and gorged the 
gutters of Paris with human blood—was not that revolution first in the 


preaching and pamphlets of Voltaire? First on the lip of the popular — 


speaker; then in the talk of the clubs; then in the mind and will of the 
frenzied masses? Murder of government officials; the parks of Ireland 
crimsoned with innocent blood; dynamite in Parliament Houses; mines 
under the palaces of emperors—these dastardly deeds come of thoughts 
uttered in speech, printed in tracts, published in papers; thoughts that 
have got possession of the minds of many. The burning of that magnifi- 
cent hall in Cincinnati, with all its priceless treasure of records and 
books, and the bloody scenes which followed at the jail, and in the streets, 
till the day dawned—these things are the outcome of the teaching to which 
the multitude have listened. Let the church remain inactive and indif- 
ferent, and how long before the most impious teaching and the wildest 
schemes shall prevail? And, the masses poisoned with the virus of a 
socialistic, and an infidel press, what then? The pyramids showus what 
many hands can do. The great stones in the temple at Baalbec show us 
how unlimited is the strength of the many. But let the purposeto build 
be reversed in some frenzied hour, let the purpose of the many com- 
bined be to destroy, and what power have we in all this broad land to re- 
sist? 

Ah, brethren! look and see what goes forth into the hands of the 
people from the press, weekly and daily. Do you know? We must 
match thought with thought. We must make the future life the com 
pletion of the present. We must put the Word of God against and 
above the word of man. We must enthrone Jesus Christ King in the 
individual heart, and in the institutions and life of the nation—Jesus 
Christ once dead, but now alive, and coming again with his sword upon 
his thigh to execute judgment for all—we must enthrone him upon the 
affections of the masses. We must have missionaries, not girls in their 
teens parading with a banner and a bass drum; missionaries thoroughly 
trained in the school of Christ and his apostles, and consecrated; mis- 
sionaries understanding the thoughts and the prejudices and the wicked- 
ness of the masses, as well as the power of Christ’s life and death; mis- 
sionaries in the full strength of an educated and ripened manhood, to go 
forth into those districts of the great cities from which the churches have 
withdrawn in a spirit of rebellion against the Master, and into the vil- 
lages that dot the prairies, and up the mountain slope with the emigrant 
colony, and preach Christ crucified till Parthians and Medes and 
Elamites, and strangers of Rome, hear, every man in his own tongue, the 
wonderful works of God. 

We must haye missionaries from our theological seminaries filled and 


| 
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4 


21 


fired with the grand old truths of a vicarious redemption; and, why not 
men drawn from other professions; from the law, from medicine, from 
commercial life; men educated for their special work, going as pio- 
neers, at their own charges, into the iron mines, and the gold mimes, and 
the coal mines, into the beer gardens, and down upon the sea beach, 
campaigning for the election of the Son of God? The power in this 
country is with the masses ; this Republic of ours is at the mercy of the 
masses. We must evangelize the masses to save the inheritance of the 
Pilgrims. We must win them to our churches to preserve Our govern- 
ment, and perpetuate our religious institutions. The necessity is upon 
us. Save America we must by saving the masses. 

And, brethren, we have the opportunity—all things considered, an 
opportunity without a parallel in the history of the world—a momentous 
opportunity to print right across this land in institutions and churches 
brighter than the stars, “Saved by the church of Christ.” We can give 
way to religious indifference. We can slide into the ways of the world. 
We can tolerate a gospel of doubt, uncertainty and evasion. Or we can 
stand firm by the doctrines of sin and redemption. We can proclaim the 
glorious gospel of the blessed God, and promote the kingdom of heaven 
The prophet Daniel refused the portion of the king’s meat and wine; 
refused all complicity with idolatry, though it was the religion of the 
king and court. He deliberately continued his prayers to Jehovah, 
morning, noon and night, though the consequence he knew to be the 
lion’s den. That was his opportunity; and he met it unwaveringly. 
And the result of his fidelity was a royal decree in all languages, unto all 
peoples and nations that dwell upon the face of the earth, that in every 
dominion men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. He is the 
living God, steadfast forever, and his kingdom shall be unto the end. 
Is not this our opportunity? We can slink away, cowardly, and leave 
things to take their course; or we can stand fearlessly by the truth, 
and bravely do the work of disciples. The eyes of the nations are upon 
the land of the Pilgrims. True to our history, true to our profession, 
trusting implicitly the protection and promises of Jehovah, let us go 
forward to the experience of like precious results, and compel the nations 
to confess and adore the name of our Redeemer. 

But more; now is our opportunity to save our land. The Fathers 
have gone, and with them much of their reverence and faith. Socialism 
knows neither.. A new way of dealing with Christ and his works is 
abroad. The Book Divine is not pronounced a forgery or a fraud; but, 
nevertheless, the writers were men subject to illusion and error. The 
difference between the regenerate and the unregenerate is a vanishing 
lime. Eternal awards for the life that now is are not forall. Multitudes 
from other lands crowd to our shores, throng the cities, and scatter 
through the Territories. Ignorance is here, indifterence is here, prejudice 
is here, and passion, envy, hate and heathenism. lrreligion is in con- 


99, 7h Se en 


clothed in sackcloth and ashes, and calls imperatively 1 
Lamb’s wife: “And who knoweth whether thou art co 
for such a time as this?” Now, now, let the church 
her royal garments, and stand before the king, and 
“ How can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto 
how can I endure to see the destruction of my kin 


people of this great nation shall live, and the kingdom | 
tablished. Amen. ; 


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NEGLECT 


OF 


PNFANT BAPTISM. 


BY THE 


Rev. JAMES H. BAIRD. 


FROM THE PRINCETON REVIEW FOR JANUARY 1857. 


PHILADELPHIA: 


WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN, 
No. 144 Cuestnut Street. 


1857. 


‘ 4 
bis 
7 ‘ 
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if { 
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to. 


NEGLECT OF INFANT BAPTISM. 


——— 


Frou THE Princeton REVIEW oF JANUARY 1857. 


oe 


Win great pleasure do we hail the appearance of “The 
Doctrine of Baptisms,”’ from the pen of Dr. Armstrong, of 
Norfolk, Va. In our opinion, this subject of Baptism is one 
of the most important that can occupy the attention of our 
divines and scholars. And, indeed, if we understand the signs 
of the times, it will yet occupy more attention than it hag done 
hitherto. This work of Dr. Armstrong seems to be well calcu- 
lated to do good in and out of our Church; and with pleasure 
do we commend it to those who have a desire to examine this 
subject carefully and thoroughly, as well calculated to aid them 
in their researches. We are pleased with his mode of discuss- 
ing the subject, and the general arrangement of the work; the 
mechanical execution of which is also such as to make it an 
attractive volume. We hope it will be widely circulated. 

But our present object is not to review, or give an outline of, 
this work of Dr. Armstrong. We take the present as a favour- 
able opportunity for expressing our surprise that, whilst so 
many writers have, with ability, discussed the mode and sub- 
jects of baptism, and the Baptist arguments, comparatively 
little attention is drawn to the neglect of household baptism, in. 
our own Church, and to the mode of remedying that evil. We 
are constantly erecting barriers to prevent the inroads of 
enemies outside of our fortress, and at the same time we give 

1 


2 


‘ comparatively little attention to the work of destruction that 
is going on within. 

An able practical treatise on the neglect of infant baptism, 
its causes and cure, would be timely, and would, we are per- 
suaded, do great good in our Church. We will take this oppor- 
tunity of presenting a few of our own thoughts on this subject, 
simply designed to awaken the attention of brethren to its 
importance. 

Baptism is one of the only two sacraments of the New Testa- 
ment dispensation. It is a holy ordinance, and was instituted 
by the King and Head of the Church himself. In his word, 
not only does he give us to understand the nature and object of 
this ordinance, but he has also designated the persons for whom 
baptism was designed. Since, then, he has instructed his 
Church as to those who are subjects of this ordinance, it most 
certainly is incumbent on the Church to execute his commands, 
and baptize all included in the commission. If this duty be 
neglected, then indeed will a very heavy responsibility rest on 
the Church itself. 

The Presbyterian Church has always held not only to be- 
lievers’ baptism, but also to the baptism of their offspring. 

And hence, it has not been without interest, that we have read 
lamentations over neglect of infant baptism, and exhortations 
to the churches thereon, year after year, in the Narrative issued 
by our Assembly. It has been painful also to know the charge 
to be made by Baptist ministers and members, again and again, 
that infant baptism is rapidly losing ground; that Pedobaptist 
churches are much more anxious to have this doctrine in their 
Confessions of Faith, than practically conformed to by their 
members; and that the members are gradually, but most 
certainly, becoming Anti-pedobaptist, both in sentiment ‘and 
practice. This charge has been made privately and publicly, 
both in the pulpit and through the press. And not only so— 
the attempt has more than once been made to prove what they 
have affirmed; and that too, sometimes, with an appearance 
at least of plausibility in their statements. 

We have been pointed to associations of Congregationalists, 
within whose bounds the baptism of an infant has become un- 
known, or of rare occurrence. We have also been told, that 


3 


other Pedobaptist churches (as shown by their statistics) are ~ 
fast moving in the same direction, fast deserting the doctrines 
of their fathers and forefathers. And, what most concerns us, 
we have often known it to be said, that in the Presbyterian 
Church there has been, for some time, a growing disregard for 
the baptism of children. Indeed, we have heard it boldly and 
publicly asserted, that this doctrine is fast becoming “a dead 
letter’’ in many parts of our Church. 

If, then, this be true; if there be neglect, and neglect rapidly 
increasing in sister Churhes, with regard to this holy ordinance, 
most assuredly, as we apprehend, it becomes the Presbyterian 
Church to be the more solicitous lest the same failure in the 
discharge of duty exist in her bounds. And should it prove 
true, as asserted by adversaries and feared by friends, that 
already a breach is made in our walls, already this doctrine is 
dying out; truly, then, ought the alarm to be sounded, that 
the friends of Bible truth, and the lovers of Christ’s ordinances 
be awakened to the importance of immediate and earnest effort, 
before it be too late. Let us, then, arouse ourselves and con- 
tend, for in very deed Christ’s crown and the covenants are 
endangered. And let us be thankful if even the rejoicings of 
our enemies have made us sensible of our own condition, if 
danger there be. 

We have been much gratified by repeated efforts made to 
draw attention to an acknowledged neglect of infant baptism, 
on the part of many, very many parents. These efforts, whether 
in church judicatories or in our religious journals, have been 
timely, and, we doubt not, have answered a good purpose; for 
this subject should be second in importance to none to the sincere 
Presbyterian. We have feared that there has been neglect of 
this sacrament in the bounds of our Church. We have feared 
that the assertions of opposers were too true; that they were 
much more correct in their surmises than most of our brethren 
seemed to suppose; and hence we have attempted to gain all 
possible light on this subject. And we must confess, that the 
more we have considered the subject, and the more facts we 
have been able to obtain, we have been so much the more 
satisfied, not only that there is increasing disregard for the 
baptism of children, in sister churches, but also, that throughout 


4 


the whole of our own Church there is an increasing neglect of 
this blessed ordinance; neglect, such as demands, at once, much 
serious attention from members and ministers in our Church; 
much more, indeed, than it has yet received from them. 

Far would we be from giving too much attention to the mere 
assertions of the enemies of our Church, or to the declarations 
of alarmists; but let us not err on the other extreme. Weak- 
minded and doubting ones have been drawn away from our 
ranks by statements such as are referred to above. Silence, or 
mere disclaimer, will not answer our purpose. We must have 
facts; and when we obtain them, if we discover weakness or 
error in our borders, before unknown; if our worst fears should 
be realized, we ought then to rejoice at a timely discovery, and 
be stimulated thereby to the more faithful discharge of those 
duties we owe to the seed of the Church. Let us know the, 
whole truth on this point. Let us understand our position and 
practice on this subject, as a Church, and act wisely in the 
premises. 

We will then briefly examine this subject, considering, 

I. The position of the Standards of our Church, with refer- 
ence to her infant seed. II. The extent to which there is 
neglect of infant baptism. III. The causes of this neglect. 
IV. How parents may best be induced to honour God, in 
attending upon his ordinances. 

I. What, then, is the position of our standards regarding the 
children of professing Christians? 

1. The Chureh regards children—one or both of whose 
parents are professing Christians—as members of the visible 
church. 

(a) “The visible church . . . consists of all those throughout 
the world that profess the true religion with their children.” — 
Confession of Faith, ch. 25, sec. 2. Also, Larger Catechism, 
Quest. 62. (6) “The universal church consists of all those per- 
sons, in every nation, together with their children, who make 
profession,” &¢.—Form of Government, ch. 2, see. 2. (¢) “A 
particular church consists of a number of professing Christians, 
with their offspring.”—Form of Government, ch. 2, see. 4. 
(d) “Else were your children unclean, but now are they holy.” — 
1Cor. vii.14. “Of such is the kingdom of God.” —Luke xviii. 16. 


5 


2. She considers that children, being members of the Church, 
are within the covenant, and therefore ought to be baptized, in 
order that all the blessings of that covenant be sealed to them 
in that ordinance; and that infants are not made members of 
the visible church by baptism, but are to be baptized because 
of their relation to the Church. 

(a) “Infants descending from parents, either both or but 
one of them professing faith in Christ, and obedience to him, 
are in that respect, within the covenant, and are to be 
baptized.””—(Larger Catechism, Quest. 166.) And also, “Bap- 
tism is... to be unto them a sign and seal of the Covenant of 
Grace.”’—Confession of Faith, ch. 26, sec. 1; and same ch., 
sec. 4. (6) “They are federally holy, and therefore ought to 
be baptized.” —Direct. for Worship, ch. 7, sec. 4. (c) “I will 
. establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after 
thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a 
God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”—Gen. xvii. 7. 
“The promise is to you and to your children.” —Acts ii. 39. 

3. She teaches that children, being in the Church, and 
having by divine appointment, both the privilege and right of 
enjoying this sealing ordinance, there is very great sin com- 
mitted against God, and serious injustice done to their children, 
by those who neglect this ordinance. 

(a) The Bible and Confession of Faith everywhere teach 
that “there be only two sacraments ordained by Christ our 
Lord, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord,” 
(Confession of Faith, ch. 27, sec. 4,) that the ordinance of 
baptism is alone intended for children, and “that the seed of 
the faithful have no less aright to this ordinance, than the seed 
of Abraham to circumcision.”’—Direct. for Worship, ch. 7, sec. 
4. (6) “And the uncircumcised man-child, whose flesh of his 
foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his 
people.” —Gen. xvii. 14. Read also the case of Moses, Exod. 
iv. 24. (c) “Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect 
this ordinance,” &c.—Confession of Faith, ch. 28, sec. 5. 
“Baptism is not to be unnecessarily delayed.”—Direct. for 
Worship, ch. 7, sec. 1. (d) It must be evident to any one that 
baptism being an holy ordinance, appointed by Christ to seal the 
benefits of the covenant of grace to the infant seed of the Church; 


6 


it is not only rebellion against the authority of Christ, but it 
is very great injustice done to the children whose baptism 1s 
neglected. How would that church be regarded, whose members 
should neglect the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper constantly ? 
and is the sin less, where they neglect the only other sacrament? 
“Feed my lambs,” said the risen Saviour; look well to my 
little ones. Let them not be deprived of the seal of the cove- 
nant. With the above agrees Calvin, who declares that, “‘ While 
it is sufficiently clear that the force, and so to speak, the sub- 
stance of baptism are common to children, to deny these the 
sign, which is inferior to the substance, were manifest injus- 
tice.” —(Calvin’s Tracts, vol. 2, p. 89.) And again, “‘How 
unjust shall we be, if we drive away from Christ those whom 
he invites to him; if we deprive them of the gifts with which he 
adorns them; if we exclude those whom he freely admits ?”’— 
Calvin’s Institutes, b. 4, ch. 2, sec. 7. (e) Neglect of infant 
baptism is a breach of covenant, and a rejection of the grace 
presented in the ordinance: ‘He hath broken my covenant.”’— 
Gen. xvii. 14. And, indeed, not only is this taught in all parts 
of the Confession, but from the foregoing positions, it is self- 
evident, and, as Calvin expresses himself, therefore ‘we ought 
to be alarmed by the vengeance which God threatens to inflict, 
if any one disdains to mark his son with the symbol of the 
covenant; for the contempt of that symbol involves the rejec- 
tion and abjuration of the grace which it presents.”’—Institutes, 
b. 4, ch. 16, sec. 9. So, also, Gen. xvii. 13: ‘My covenant 
shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” Also, Gen. 
xvii. 9-14. 

4. Children are not to be baptized until the minister is pre- 
viously satisfied that the parent or parents understand their 
duties and obligations to their children and the Church, and 
that they intend to discharge them. 

(a) “Previously to the administration of baptism, the minis- 
ter shall inquire into the parents’ knowledge; ... and being 
satisfied so as to admit them, shall in public point out,’ &.— 
Digest, p. 80, § 19. (6) Ministers are exhorted “to take due 
care in the examination of all that offer to dedicate their 
children to God in the sacred ordinance of baptism,’’ &¢.— 
Digest, p. 80, § 19. (c) The Rev. Mr. Cumming was “com- 


7 


mended for insisting on persons praying in their families, 
who present their children to baptism.”’—Digest, p. 81, § 20. 
(d) “After previous notice is given to the minister,” &.— 
Direct. for Worship, ch. 7, sec. 3. The previous notice most 
certainly cannot be the parents’ bringing of the child to the 
front of the pulpit, which is very frequently the first intimation 
that the minister expects to have regarding those to be baptized. 
This section, especially in connection with the foregoing action 
of the General Assembly, explanatory of the Directory for 
Worship, evidently presumes a meeting, before the administra- 
tion of the ordinance, between the pastor and those having 
children to be baptized. ; 

5. Parents who neglect this ordinance are amenable to the 
discipline of the Church, at least as much so as if they 
neglected the Supper of the Lord. 

(a) Known, acknowledged neglect of any of the ordinances 
has always been considered as involving such breach of Church 
covenant as to require Church discipline. And the General 
Assembly so decided in a case of appeal of one neglecting public 
worship, (See Digest, p. 83.)' Of course, neglect of the Sacra- 
ments is a more aggravated offence. To avoid this conclusion 
shall we consider the Sacrament of baptism inferior to the 
Supper of the Lord? (6) The Book of Discipline says that an 
“Offence is anything in the principles or practice of a Church 
member, which is contrary to the word of God; or, which, if it 
be not in its own nature sinful, may tempt others to sin, or mar 
their spiritual edification.” —Discipline, ch. 1, sec. 3. If neglect 
of infant baptism is not an offence, according to the above defi- 
nition, we must own our want of perception, and that we cannot 
understand the Confession of Faith when it declares as above, 
that “it is a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance.” 
(c) “There be only two Sacraments ordained by Christ our 
Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of 
the Lord.”—(Confession of Faith, ch. 27, sec. 4.) “Baptism 
is a Sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus 
Christ, &c.”"—(Confession of Faith, ch. 28, sec. 1.) Very 
clearly are we required to honour and observe the ordinance 
of baptism, in terms as strong as are applied to the Lord’s 
Supper; both in the Bible and Confession of Faith. (d) “The 


8 


exercise of discipline is highly important and necessary. ’— 
(Discipline, ch. 1, sec. 2.) “‘Qhildren born within the pale of 
the visible church, and dedicated to God in baptism, are 
under the inspection and government of the Church,”’ &¢.— 
(Direct. for Worship, ch. 9, sec. 1.) This presumes all born 
“within the pale of the visible church” to be baptized as a 
matter of course. It supposes no neglect. If, however, we 
allow neglect, are the children then still ‘“‘under the govern- 
ment of the Church?” The exercise of discipline and govern- 
ment is declared to be “necessary,” and yet shall we allow 
many, very many to evade it, and “cut off” their children 
from the advantages of church oversight and care? In regard 
to children of Church members, whose baptism is neglected, we 
would like to be informed what is their true relation to the 
Church. Will we calmly hand them over to the “uncovenanted 
mercies” of God, so often spoken of in certain quarters ? 

6. The Church has no right to receive into full membership 
those who intend committing “the great sin of contemning or 
neglecting” this holy sacrament. 

(a) Very manifestly it would be most inconsistent for a 
Church to receive those who expect, at once, to violate the laws 
of God and the constitution of the Church, especially in regard 
to one of the only two sacraments of the New Testament; and 
most certainly no session has a right to receive persons into 
full communion without “examining them as to their know- 
ledge” of the sacraments. To receive such, and then discipline 
them would be wrong. (6) The above position is sustained by 
the course pursued by our church judicatories. The Session of 
the Church of Cambridge would not receive Bethuel Church, 
even to “occasional communion,” until they had first consulted 
the General Assembly. That body then declared that he might 
thus be received, 2. e. to “occasional communion,” notwithstand- 
ing his scruples.—Digest, p. TO. 

Il. Is Infant Baptism on the decline in the Presbyterian 
Church? 

The question thus stated is one of fact, not of opinion. To 
answer the query is no doubt difficult; but it is not impossible. 
For all practical purposes, the question can, we feel assured, be 
satisfactorily answered. 


9 


By comparison, and by comparison alone, can we at all obtain 
the information desired. Were we informed in regard to the 
exact number of the children of the Church, we would not be 
long in determining the query before us. But since that is 
impossible, we must make the best use of such data as are 
within our reach. If we cannot give an exact answer to the 
question, may we not make a close approximation thereto? 
Whilst considering this subject, some years since, it occurred 
to us, that the annual Statistical Reports made to our General 
Assembly do afford correct data for a very hear approximate 
solution of this very interesting problem. The General 
Assembly has, from time immemorial, received a return, not 
only of the number of members, but also a report of the number 
of children baptized. It will then at once occur to the thought- 
ful observer, that there would in all probability be, taking the 
Church throughout, and from year to year, a fixed or nearly 
fixed ratio between the number of children baptized and the 
number of members in the Church. That is to say, take the 
Church throughout, and there would probably be, from year to 
year, to any given number of communicants, the same number 
of children introduced into the Church by birth, or else by the 
baptism of their parents. And could that ratio be ascertained, 
we would then be able to tell, with a very considerable degree 
of accuracy, the exact state of the case. We have therefore 
spent not a little time and labour, in seeking for the annual 
Statistical Reports regarding members and baptisms; and we 
have been gratified by unexpected success, having obtained 
them for the last fifty years, excepting only the Reports for 
1813, 1822, 1823, and 1835. A large portion of these we 
extracted from the unpublished documents of the General 
Assembly, in charge of Dr. Leyburn, the Assembly’s Perma- 
nent Clerk, by whose kindness we obtained access to them. 

We herewith present the reader with two tables, containing 
the Statistical Reports referred to, so arranged as to enable him 
to form a very satisfactory estimate of the number of unbap- 
tized children in our Church, according to almost any theory he 
adopts, regarding the absolute number of children in the 
Church. We add to them some other small tables regarding 

2 


10 


other Churches, assured that the labour of an examination will 
be fully repaid. 
TaBLE No. 1.* 
The proportion existing between the number of members and the 
children baptized in the Presbyterian Church, for the last fifty years, 
excepting 1813, 1822, 1828, and 1835: 


Adult Members to Baptisms per Infants 
Year. baptisms. Members. each baptism. 1000 members. baptized. 
1807, 170 17,871 6.3 158 2,834 
1808, 330 21,270 5.1 195 4,142 
1809, 711 25,298 53 189 4,782 
1810, 503 28,901 5.9 167 4,835 
1811, 461 23,639 5.1 198 4,677 
1812, 507 37,699 6.4 151 5,909 
1814, 617 37,767 6.6 151 5,693 
1815, 745 39,685 rip 142 5,621 
1816, 667 37,208 7.1 141 5,263 
1817, i: ye ley 47,568 7.8 129 6,128 
1818, 1,295 52,822 72 136 7,189 
1819, 1,489 63,997 7.7 131 8,352 
1820, 1,611 72,096 8.2 122 8,792 
1821, 2,101 71,364 8.8 114 8,105 
1824, 2217 104,024 11.5 87 9,016 
1825, 1,709 108,581 10.7 94 9,730 
1826, 3,453 99,674 10.6 94 9,397 
1827, 2,965 135,285 13.2 76 10,229 
1828, 3,389 146,308 13.6 74 10,790 
1829, 3,982 162,816 13.4 75 12,171 
1830, 3,255 178,829 14.2 70 12,202 
1881, 4,390 182,017 15.0 67 12,198 
1832, _9,650 217,348 16.4 61 13,246 
1833, 6,950 283,580 16.6 60 14,035 
1834, 5,738 247,964 19.1 53 13,004 
1836, 2,729 219,126 198 51 11,089 
1837, 3,031 220,557 18.9 53 11,697 
1838, 2,692 177,665 17.5 57 10,164 
1839, 1,644 128,043 16.6 60 7712 
1840, 1,741 126,583 16.1 60 7,844 
1841, 1,842 184,448 16.1 62 8,365 
1842, 2,748 140,433 14.7 68 9,567 
1843, 4,363 159,137 14.9 67 10,625 
1844, 38,287, 166,487 15.1 66 10,996 


* This table contains, as will be observed, the infant baptisms; the num- 
ber of members; a column showing the number of members each year, for 
each infant baptized; a column showing the number of children baptized for 
each one thousand communicants, for each year; and, as a mere matter of 
interest, the adult baptisms are also introduced. 


—— 


11 


Adult Members to Baptisms per Infants 
Year. baptisms. Members. each baptism. 1000 members. baptized. 
1845, 1,929 171,879 17.8 06 9,608 
1846, 2,036 174.714 18.1 55 9,677 
1847, 1,794 179,453 19.2 52 9,342 
1848, 2,338 192,022 19.5 51 9,837 
1849, 2,412 200,830 20.3 49 9,895 
1850, 2,772 207,254 20.0 50 10,372 
1851, 2,918 210,306 19.1 52 10,994 
1852, 2,549 210,414 19.1 52 11,006 
1853, 2,942 219,263 18.8 53 11,644 
1854, 3,597 225,404 18.7 53 12,041 
1855, 3,433 931,404 19.7 50 11,734 
1856, 3,189 233,755 19.6 51 11,921 


—__ 


116,211 6,312,283 Av.148 Ay.68 424,470 


TABLE No. 2. 
A Synopsis of Table No. 1, for periods of five years: 
Adult Members for Baptisms per Infant 
Years. baptisms. Members. each baptism. 1000 members. baptisms. 
1807-1811, 2,178 116,979 5.5 182 21,270 
1812-1816, 2,536 152,359 6.7 149 22,486 
1817-1821, 7,813 307,847 7.9 125 38,566 
1824-1826, 7,379 307,229 10.9 92 28,143 
1827-1831, 17,981 799,755 13.9 72 57,590 
1832-1836, 25,067 918,018 17.9 7 51,374 
1837-1841, 10,950 787,291 17.2 58 45,782 
1842-1846, 14,363 812,650 16.1 62 90,473 
1847-1851, 12,234 989.865 196 51 50,440 
1852-1856, 15,710 1,120,240 19.7 51 58,346 
1807-1856, 116,211 6,312,233 14.8 68 424 470 
1807-1831, 37,787 1,684,169 10.0 99 168,055 
1832-1856, 78,324 4,628,064 17.9 56. 256,415 
TABLE No. 3. 


Number of members for each child baptized in four different Pres- 
byteries, for six different decennial periods: 


1807. 1817. 1827. 1837. 1847. 1856. 


| 
| 
| 


New York, 56 102 142 WA 151 103 
New Brunswick, 7.4 66 118 252 304 314 
Philadelphia, ee tts i eG ig at 
Baltimore, 3.8 GT OP rT gy ee ea 

50 TEP MRT Be ME” “gg 


12 


In the Reformed Dutch Church, in the year 1855, there were 
reported 38,927 members and 2,448 children baptized—being 
one child for every 15.9 members, or 63 to the thousand. In 
1856, there were 40,413 members and 2,754 children baptized— 
being one for every 14.7 members, or 68 to the thousand. For 
the two years, there was one infant baptism to every 15.1 
members, or 66 to the thousand. 

Let the reader, then, carefully examine these statistics, and 
his attention will at once be arrested by the fact, that in No. 1, - 
the two columns of figures, showing the ratio of baptisms 
to church members are, the one an ascending, and the other a 
descending series. Fifty years ago, there were about 200 
children baptized for every thousand communicants; now but 
50—only one-fourth as many.- Fifty years ago, there was one 
child baptized for every five members; now but one for 20! 

In 1811 there were only 23,639 communicants, and yet there 
were 4,677 baptisms. And yet, in 1856, with ten tumes as many 
members, we have only twee as many baptisms of children; or, 
to be perfectly accurate, had the baptisms borne the same pro- 
portion to the communicants in our Church, last year, that they 
did in 1811, 46,249 would have been the number reported, 
instead of 11,921: showing (with the proportion of 1811) 
34,328 children excluded from this holy ordinance within the 
past year, being almost three-fourths of the infant members of 
the Church! This, too, is on the supposition that the propor- 
tion for 1811 was exactly correct, that no child was then left 
unbaptized. At this rate, too, there should have been, for the 
46 years of this table, 1,249,776 children baptized, whereas 
there were but 424,470, only one-third of that number, leaving 
825,306 children thus—if this proportion be right—“ cut off 
from their Church” by their parents’ act, in that brief period 
of time; a number nearly equal to three times the whole num- 
ber of members at present in the Church! 

But some one may object that this rate is too high; that 
there have not been that many children born in the Church. 
We do not assert that there has been that number of subjects 
of baptism; but we certainly have a right to require the objector 
to give substantial reasons for believing that there were more 


13 


children in the Church fifty years since, in proportion to the 
membership, than there are at the present time. Such reasons 
may be found, but they do not present themselves to us. We 
can think of no sufficient cause for such a change. We cannot 
understand why the proportion of infant baptisms to the number 
of members should now materially vary from what it was from 
1807 to 1811. The accuracy and care used by churches, in 
the preparation of the statistics of baptisms and members, seem 
always to have been about the same; and, after a very careful 
examination of this point, we are satisfied that for all purposes 
of comparison, these statistics may safely be relied upon. We 
think, too, that the accuracy of all parts of these tables is about 
the same, and that there is no material error in any of them. 
And as to the proper ratio of baptisms to church members, we 
might remark, that our own experience and observation induce 
us to believe, that in 1811 it was not higher than we ought to 
expect it always to be, in a healthy state of the Church. There 
should be, from year to year, in the whole Church, about 200 
children baptized for every thousand members of the Church 
in full communion. 

Tt will be observed, too, that it was not in 1811 alone that 
there were reported nearly 200 to the thousand members. The 
average rate for the first five years of the last half century, 
(see table No. 2,) was 182 to the thousand, and for the first 
ten years 164, or one baptism for every 6.15 members; and 
even on this supposition there should have been, since 1806, 
1,025,470 baptisms, instead of 424,470, the number reported, 
leaving 601,000 children neglected during that time, 7. e. during 
46 of the last 50 years. 

If then there should be one baptism for every six members, 
there was no neglect until 1812, but since that time we have 
629,338 neglected. If one for every seven members, since 
1815, 482,651; none before. If one for eight, 375,763 since 
1820; none before. If one for nine, 295,074 since 1824; none 
before. If one for ten, 231,352 since 1824; none before. And 
if one for twelve-and-a-half, 120,217 since 1827; and none 
before. Thus, according to the opinion we hold, whether we 
expect one child for every 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 123 members, (and 


14 


if to make the comparison better, we take the last 20 years 
alone,) we have respectively 618,339; 530,005; 463,753; 
412,224; 371,000; or 296,801 as the number of children that 
should have been baptized; and as the number that was bap- 
tized in that period of time was only 205,041, there would be 
left 413,298; 324,964; 258,712; 207,183; 165,959; or 91,760 
respectively, as unbaptized, and under twenty-one years of age. 
If then there are in the Church more children than one for 
every ten members, it follows, that more than half of the off- 
spring of the Church are deprived of this ordinance. 

A writer in the Wew York Observer has supposed that there 
ought to be 12.5 communicants for each child per year. To 
us this seems too many; and the Editor of the Presbyterian 
Banner very justly objects to it. And with our present light 
we cannot adopt it; nor can we substitute 10. For, it will be 
observed in the tables that the whole Church averaged that for 
25 years. And the rate too was all the time decreasing; 
showing one of two things, either that Presbyterians have not 
as large families as formerly; or else, (and that is our opinion,) 
that adverse influences were more and more operating on the 
minds of parents, and gradually destroying their regard for this 
seal of the covenant; thus producing increasing neglect of the 
ordinance from year to year. 

It is our opinion that the decrease of infant baptism has 
really been caused by increased neglect. And, after carefully 
considering the subject—after conversing with brethren im all 
parts of the Church, and observing the proportion of baptisms to 
members in many Churches; and after not only examining our 
own General Assembly’s early and later statistics, but also the 
statistics of baptisms in Churches in old and new settlements, 30, 
40, and 50 years ago; we are with pain inevitably driven to the 
conclusion, that there cannot be less than one infant subject of 
baptism for every six members in the whole Church. And 
consequently we must conclude that whilst there were but 
205,041 children reported as baptized, during the last 20 years, 
the reports should have amounted to 618,339, leaving not less 
than 413,298 unbaptized. Thus have more than two-thirds of 


15 


the children of the Church been “cut off” from the people of 
God by their parents’ sinful neglect, and by the Church’s 
silent acquiescence therein! Is this indeed true? Is the one- 
half of it true? ‘Then, indeed, is there not “ great sin” 
resting on the Church?—Oonfession of Faith, ch. 28, sec. 5. 
And ought we not to fear lest great wrath is gone out against 
us, and lest the fire of God’s anger soon consume us, unless 
we speedily humble ourselves, and roll away this reproach 
from us? 'wo-thirds of the children of our Church unbap- 
tized! The very statement startles us. Indeed, we hesitate 
in making it, and would fain hope we are mistaken. But 
we fear it is sober, solemn truth. And we blush in view of 
the consequent shame and guilt that now rests on us as a 
Church. 

To this conclusion, however, some may object. It may be 
said, that formerly more care was used in reporting bap- 
tisms than at present. But this we think is not the case. 
Reasoning a priori, we would expect to find greater care now 
used in making reports than formerly, since our Churches are 
now constantly and more earnestly urged to make correct 
returns than formerly, and Presbyteries generally show an 
increased and increasing interest in their Statistical Reports. 
And after referring to the Presbyterial reports, during this 
whole period, we can see no reason for believing that Churches 
were formerly more careful on these points than at the present 
time. About the same care in reporting on these two points 
seems always to have been used. 

It may again be objected,that now there are more young 
people in the Church than formerly; and that consequently 
there is a smaller proportion of families with young children. 
But this objection, very manifestly, is not a valid one. It 
might be received as an explanation of a proportionate falling 
off for two, three, or five years. But the diminution has been 
gradual. For years, and tens of years, has there been a con- 
stantly decreasing ratio, and there has been no sudden change 
of the proportion; and that most manifestly would have been 
the case, if the objection were valid. 


16 


It may be objected that it cannot be true, that two-thirds, 
one-half, or even any large proportion of our children are 
unbaptized. So, no doubt, will very many reason, and there- 
fore suppose that there may still be some explanation offered 
for the deductions we make from these figures. Thus, as it 
were, the question becomes one of experience and observa- 
tion. And if you ask any pastor if the half of the children 
of his charge are unbaptized, he will, most probably, unhesi- 
tatingly answer, no; he will tell you that few, very few, are 
unbaptized. But our experience leads us to believe, that very 
many pastors and sessions know nothing about this matter, 
never having given it very special attention. We have been 
told, in more than one instance, that the children, in a given 
congregation, were generally baptized, and yet, when an exami- 
nation was instituted, in every instance, more than half were 
found unbaptized. 

As a matter of observation, we would also add, that we have 
frequently known ministers to neglect the baptism of their own 
children, without any apparent reason, for months and months, 
even until one or two years had elapsed; and we know of more 
than one, two, or three elders and deacons, in a State in which 
we have resided for years, who refuse altogether to have their 
children baptized; and yet Sessions and Presbyteries permit 
their continuance in office, in the very face of the Constitution, 
and the decision of the General Assembly: yea, and a minister 
who insists on the duty of attending to this sacrament, is in 
great danger of making himself odious. We have known a 
minister to be strongly urged to, decline administering infant 
baptism at public worship on the Sabbath day; this, too, by his 
own members, who feared offence would be taken at its adminis- 
tration by some of the congregation connected with Baptist 
families; and when that pastor (his congregation being an old 
and large one) has been about to administer the sacrament, 
previous to the sermon, more than one have arisen and left the 
house, to show their contempt for the ordinance. And, in fine, 
we have heard, on the floor of one of our Synods, the very 
idea scouted at by one of our ministers, that it is “a great 


17 


sin to neglect” this ordinance, although the Confession of Faith 
declares that it is, in those very words. (See ch. 28, sec. 5.) 

The opinions we have expressed above, as to the number of 
unbaptized youth in our Church, are further strengthened by 
the statistics of the Episcopal Church. 

In 1855, having 107,560 communicants, they baptized 19,012 
children, being 177 to every thousand members, or 5.6 mem- 
bers for every child baptized. In 1856, having 116,735 mem- 
bers, they baptized 20.048, being 172 to the thousand, or 5.8 
members to every child baptized. 

Thus, then, we learn that in the Episcopal Church, during 
the past two years, there has been one baptism for every 5.7 
members. They have only half as many members as the Pres- 
byterian Church, and yet report twice as many children bap- 
tized. To this, we know, it may be said, that they regard this 
ordinance in a different light from Presbyterians, thinking it to 
be a saving ordinance, and hence are over anxious to have their 
children baptized. Now, then, even admitting this to be true— 
and it would only show that Episcopalians are more careful to 
have their own children baptized—it does not go to prove that 
they have larger families, more children than Presbyterians. It 
very much confirms us in the opinion above expressed, that at 
least one child should be baptized for every six communicants, 
if parents were faithful. 

But there is another important fact that cannot escape obser- 
vation. By table No. 1, we learn that there has been a con- 
stant, though varying decrease of the number of baptisms to 
each thousand communicants, descending from 198 to the thou- 
sand in 1811, until it reached as low as 51 in 1836, when the 
New-school and Congregational element in our Church was 
strongest. After the division, the number slightly increased, 
until in 1842 there were 68 to the thousand. And again there 
was a constant diminution until in 1849, there were but 49 to 
the thousand. And from that time there has been a very slight 
variation. 

That our reference above to the New-school and Congrega- 
tional element is worthy of consideration, will be seen by a 


3 


18 


reference to the preceding tables, in connection with the 
statistics of those bodies, viz. 


TABLE No. 4. 


Members and infant baptisms in the New-school Presbyterian 
Church compared. 


Infant Members for each Per 1000 

Year. Members. baptisms. infant baptized. members. 
1839, 100,850 4,426 44 23 
1840, 102,060 4,378 48 23 | 
1841, 120,645 2,843 43 24 
1842, 120,645 2,843 43 24 . 
1843, 120,645 2,843 43 24 
1844, 145,416 3,226 45 22 | 
1845, 145,416 3,226 45 22 
1846, 145,416 3,226 45 22 
1847, 139,047 2,621 53 19 
1848, 139,047 2,621 53 19 
1849, 139,047 2,621 53 19 
1850, 139,797 4,096 34 29 
1851, 140,076 4,126 34 29 
1852, 140,652 3,931 36 28 
1853, 140,452 4,032 35 29 
1854, 141,477 3,873 37 27 
1855, 143,029 3,924 36 27 
1856, 188,760 3,394 41 24 

2,402,477 62,250 37 26 

TaBLE No. 5. 


Members and infant baptisms in New England Congregational 
Churches for the last year, compared. 


Names of Members for each Per 1000 
Associations. Members. Infant Baptisms. infant baptized. members. 
Maine, 16,937 268 63.2 16 
New Hampshire, 20,022 285 70.3 14 
Vermont, 27,705 193 143.6 7 
Massachusetts, | 67,195 1,254 53.6 19 
Connecticut, 38,038 738 51.5 . 
Rhode Island, 2,717 53 51.3 19 


——— — 


172,614 2,791 61.8 16 


19 


By examining table No. 4, it will be seen that the New-school 
Church, immediately after their secession, show, by their 
reports, increasing neglect of infant baptism; whereas, our own 
body reported more baptisms for each thousand members than 
the united Church had done for some time. This increasing 
difference continued until in 1847 the New-school reported 
only 19 for each thousand members, the Old-school, at the 
same time, reporting 52, being nearly three times as many to 
the thousand amongst the Old-school as amongst the New. 
Since then the New-school have reported, from year to year, 
a very slightly increased proportion. 

If, then, there ought to be one baptism a year for every six 
members, within the last 18 years there should have been 
amongst the New-school 400,413 baptisms, instead of 62,250, 
the number reported; that is, six children out of seven, or six- 
sevenths of their children, being 338,163, are unbaptized! All 
of them of 18 years old and under! 

Turn now to table No. 5, and we readily see that in the 
Congregational Churches in New England, infant baptism is, 
beyond a doubt, dying out. In Vermont we have but 7 bap- 
tisms to every thousand communicants; in New Hampshire but 
14; in Maine, 16; and in all the other Associations but 19; the 
average being only 16 to the thousand! 

One remark more on this point. It would seem invidious to 
name Churches, but there are many, as can be seen by examin- 
ing the Minutes of the General Assembly, who number 300, 400, 
and 500 communicants, and yet, from year to year, there are 
only 2, 3, 5 or 10 baptisms reported. Have such congregations 
no children, or almost none, or is this sacrament forgotten by 
them? Can it be their intention to place it amongst the five 
rejected sacraments of Rome? Let us hope better things. Let 
Churches honour God, and then alone will he truly honour 
them. 

III. What causes have been at work to produce such exten- 
sive neglect of infant baptism? 

1. We may mention the greatly increased and very extraor- 
dinary efforts of the various anti-Pedobaptist bodies, to dissemi- 
nate their sentiments within the past thirty-five years. 

The careful student of history cannot fail noticing a connec- 


20 


tion between the history of those efforts and the variations of 
the tables given above. The movement of Alexander Campbell 
has been felt in our Church, beyond a doubt. He has very 
plainly left his mark on the statistics above presented. Most 
insidiously, and yet boldly, was his heresy disseminated even 
within our borders, and that, too, with no little success. How- 
ever, since Campbell himself had his debate with Dr. Rice, and 
since the world thus learned what Campbellism was, learned its 
dangerous tendency, it has ceased gaining further ground from 
us. So, also, the influence of the Congregational, Arminian, 
and Semi-Pelagian elements, have all told with power, have 
tended to laxity of practical religion. Look over the statistical 
tables given above, and examine the history of our Church 
during that time, and this will be noticed. Indeed, we are 
satisfied that independency in church government will, sooner 
or later, lead to errors both in doctrine and practice! And in 
so far as that element becomes mixed with the Presbyterian, 
Presbyterianism will lose its power. 

2. Neglect of baptism results from neglect of pastors in giving 
proper and full instructions to their people in regard to this 
sacrament. 

This, we think, would follow, as an inference from the mere 
fact of neglect of the duty. Almost invariably do failures, in 
regard to the practical duties of Christianity, arise from a pre- 
vious neglect of doctrinal instruction; and, we think, this is 
eminently true in the present case. Seldom does a sacramental 
season roll around that we are not privileged to hear a discourse, 
yea, many discourses, intended to enforce the duty of all to 
regard and attend upon the Lord’s Supper as an ordinance of 
God. ‘The great sin of neglect is also dwelt upon with much 
earnestness; and great pains are taken to explain the nature, 
design, and use of that ordinance. And yet, although we have 
passed several years in the ministry, and have generally had 
a favourable opportunity of hearing preaching, we cannot recall 
one instance in which we were privileged to hear a sermon on 
the sacrament of baptism. Such sermons are, no doubt, often 
preached, but we are very greatly mistaken, if there is not a 
crying sin in this regard, on the part of very many pastors. 
Like priest, like people. If pastors disregard this ordinance in 


21 


their public teachings, the people may be expected to neglect 
the discharge of the duties incumbent on them. If the doctrine 
of the Trinity is not taught, Unitarianism invariably gains 
ground. If the duty of observing the sacraments is not insisted 
upon, their neglect will become more and more common, as a 
matter of course. 

In regard to baptism, we are disposed to think that such 
instruction as is generally given in our pulpits and lecture- 
rooms, is very limited and partial. Our own limited experience 
and observation lead us to believe this is lamentably true. 
There are comparatively few of our youths, who understand the 
relation they bear to the Church. We have asked scores of 
them, and in a very few instances only have we received an intel- 
ligent reply. Our Shorter and Larger Catechisms, and such 
works as Willison and Fisher, are not in vogue, as they were 
thirty or forty years since. Pastors now seldom assemble 
the children of their congregations for instruction regarding 
the doctrines and sacraments, such meetings as were recom- 
mended years ago by our Assembly, (see above,) as are pre- 
sumed in the Constitution, and as are still common in Scot 
land. ‘Examination’ meetings have generally passed by. 
Many pastors too, are fearful of being accounted contentious 
if they preach on baptism, since some member has a husband, 
or wife, or some connection, of Baptist views; and it is very 
remarkable that, whilst this subject is constantly harped upon 
in Baptist periodicals and pulpits, and whilst tracts are con- 
stantly thrust in our people’s hands, where this can at all be 
done—tracts intended to convince them that Presbyterianism is 
Popery, &.—this may all be done, and give offence to very few 
of our members, but the moment their own pastor speaks with 
decision on the subject, and exposes the errors of these opposers, 
these same persons think it unnecessary, ill-timed, or ill-advised. 
Thus are they charitable and liberal in their own estimation, 
whereas, in reality, they are enemies of the truth. 

Thankful are we for our hundreds of faithful, earnest, and 
godly pastors. And we feel assured that even where there is 
failure in the discharge of duty, the failure arises, in very few 
instances, from a want of love for the truth. Let us then urge 
them to insist more particularly, in their instructions, on the 


22 


truth, that baptism is a sacrament, one of only two; that it was 
ordained by Christ himself; and that, therefore, the same obli- 
gations rest upon Christians to present their children for bap- 
tism, as to attend upon the Lord’s Supper; and that the same 
sin is committed when they neglect either duty. 

Indeed, we think that the great failure in many works on 
baptism, and in much of the instruction given in the pulpit, con- 
sists in neglect, pointedly and earnestly, to press on the con- 
sciences of parents their great guilt and sin against God im 
neglecting this ordinance. Learned and very excellent discus- 
sions we have, and they have been called for; controversial 
works and sermons have been demanded, and read, and have 
tended to prevent the progress of error. But it is compara~ 
tively seldom that parents are pressed as to the sin of their 
neglect—the sin committed against the Church, against their 
children, against their own souls, against God; the sin of reject- 
ing the blessings promised to their children in the covenant; 
the sin of despising their children’s “ birthright.” 

How very often is it the case that an ordinance, which should 
be regarded as a delightful privilege to the parent, is regarded 
rather as an ordinance of the Church! Perhaps it is considered 
a respectable way of naming the child, or of making display 
of its habiliments to the congregation. Oh, how much reason 
is there to fear that its administration is not often preceded, on 
the part of the parents, by that meditation, self-examination 
and prayer, which should accompany an attendance upon such a 
holy and delightful sacrament ! 


3. Improper administration of this ordinance. This we ~ 


imagine is one of the principal causes of the existing neglect of | 
the ordinance itself. 

1st. The minister very often does not even know who intend 
presenting their children, until the time for the service itself has 
arrived; contrary to the “Directory,” ch. vii. § 8. Conse- 
quently, he has not, “ previous to the administration of that 
ordinance, inquired into the parents’ knowledge,” &c., and can- 
not do, as required by the Gen. Assem. Digest, b. ili., p. 1, § 19. 

2d. Thus proceeding without any previous acquaintance with 
the parents, or knowledge of their intentions, and very hastily 


23 


attending to its administration, the moral influence upon them, 
and others, is in a great measure destroyed. 
3d. Although the minister expects to require of parents some 
solemn promises, those parents are often left in utter ignorance 
of their nature, or of the fact that. they are expected to come 
under such solemn obligations, until the moment they are—in a 
hurried manner before the congregation—asked to give their 
assent to them. Unless previously familiar with the requisitions 
of our Constitution, (and our experience has taught us that com- 
paratively few are,) the full import of those questions cannot be 
gathered, as they are proposed. And if the questions are not 
affirmatively answered, it is no difference; we never heard of 
one instance of baptism being, at that stage, arrested by either 
the minister, or parent. It is very wrong, thus to trifle with 
matters of such moment. The Constitution is violated, when 
this course is pursued; and common sense indignantly chides 
those who thus negligently and improperly deal with these 
sacred rites of our most holy religion. 
“While in all the ordinances, holy fear and devout reverence 
should characterize religious worshippers, those which may be 
regarded as the highest and most sacred institutions of Chris- 
tianity—the seals of the covenant—should be approached with 
peculiar solemnity, and with a frame of mind corresponding to 
the nature and importance of the service, to the spiritual bene- 
fits expected from its performance, and to the weighty obliga- 
tions which it involves. It is generally admitted to be a gross 
profanation, to partake of the Lord’s Supper in a rash and hasty 
‘manner, without due preparation. ‘Let a man examine himself, 
and so let him eat,’ &c. And not only the practice of our Lord 
‘and his apostles, but the profession also, of almost all sections 
of the Church, declares an unprepared approach to this sacra- 
ment to be presumptuous sinning; not only unproductive of 
any real benefit to the participant, but fraught with fearful dan- 
ger. Although there is reason to fear that, from low views of 
the nature and design of the other sacrament, and from the 
unfaithfulness of those who dispense it, numbers come to it des- 
titute of due solemnity, ignorant of the necessary preparation, 
and unconcerned about making it; yet is such preparation 


24 


equally important and beneficial in partaking of baptism, as in 
coming to the Lord’s Supper.” —Houston on Baptism. 

4th. Another cause of neglect is, the Church’s failure to 
recognize baptized children as members after baptism. Feed 
my lambs, said our Saviour. Instruct my children, says the 
Church, in her Constitution; and yet, who can.see any difference 
between the baptized children and other youths? We have 
often been seriously asked to point out the way in which the 
Church recognizes the difference. The recommendation of the 
General Assembly, and the spirit of the Constitution, require 
“‘the pastors and sessions of the different churches under their 
care, to assemble as often as they may deem necessary during 
the year, the baptized children with their parents, to recommend 
said children to God in prayer, and explain to them the nature 
and obligations of baptism, and the relation which they sustain 
to the Church.” —(Minutes of the General Assembly for 1818, 
p. 691.) And again, “We do recommend unanimously, to all 
our Presbyteries, and particularly that each Presbytery do, at 
least once a year, examine into the manner of each minister’s 
preaching, and whether he do, and how he doth discharge his 
duty, toward the young people and children of his congregation, 
in a way of catechizing and familiar instruction. And, in case 
~ any minister within our bounds shall be defective in any of the 
above mentioned cases, he shall be subject to the censure of the 
Presbytery.” —(Minutes, 1734, p. 111.) Andin 1785, arrange- 
ments were made to have the youthin vacant congregations cate- 
chized, ‘‘at least once a year, in the same manner as is required 
by the order of our Church, in congregations supplied with regu- 
lar pastors.””. Were “the order of our Church” regarded by 
all pastors ; were children so taught, that they would feel them- 
selves to be really under the Church’s inspection, they would 
see the advantages of baptism, and irreligious and ungodly 
parents would not need to inquire in what the difference does 
consist. We do not wonder at such persons concluding that 
there is no advantage to be derived by children, from their bap- 
tism, whilst in infancy; and hence they do not consider the guilt 
resting on themselves when they deprive their children of the 
seal of the covenant. The infant members of the Church are 
declared, in the Discipline, to be under the “inspection and gov- 


25 


ernment’ of the officers of the Church. And henee, it belongs 
to them to see that parents discharge their duties; that they 
instruct their children in the Scriptures, and Catechisms, and 
train them in the fear of God. And when they have arrived 
at years of discretion, and possess sufficient knowledge to dis- 
cern the Lord’s body, “they ought to be informed it is their 
duty and their privilege to come to the Lord’s Supper.” Let 
sessions and pastors universally discharge these duties thus 
made incumbent on them by God and the Church, and we doubt 
not the result will soon be seen in an increase of piety among 
parents. This would also, we doubt not, manifest itself in an 
increase of infant baptisms, and in an increase of the number 
of youths making profession of faith in Christ, from year to 
year. In the path of duty, children, parents, pastors, sessions, 
churches, all will be blessed. 

Sth. Neglect of family worship results in neglect of this 
sacrument. When the fire ceases to burn on the altar, it is 
not surprising if there be found no heat in the bosom. When 
the cry is made that family altars are torn down, that family 
worship is greatly neglected by professing Christians; we need 
not wonder if the sacraments and other ordinances are neg- 
lected, or carelessly attended upon, especially if baptism, the 
household sacrament, is laid aside. If children are not taught 
to love prayer and the reading of God’s word at home, we need 
not be surprised that their parents neglect baptism, in which 
ordinance they would be reminded of the duties they thus owe 
to their offspring. After all, the great means, under God, for 
the perpetuation of piety in the family, is the family Bible and 
the family altar. Let family worship be laid aside, and soon 
will it show itself in want of regard for public worship. ‘A 
Christian family living without family religion is a contradic- 
tion.” —Minutes of General Assembly, 1808. 

6th. The time and circumstances attending the administra- 
tion of baptism, are often such as wholly to destroy the moral 
effect of the ordinance itself. Week-day services or private 
prayer-meetings, when even few professing Christians are pre- 
sent, are, on that account not seldom selected, in preference to 
the Sabbath-day. Thus it would seem that this is regarded as 

4 


26 


an inferior sacrament; at all events, that is the natural effect 
of such a course on the minds of lookers on. More especially 
is this the case where that ordinance is seldom administered, 
and consequently regular attenders on the house of God on 
Sabbath-day, seldom, perhaps never, have seen baptism adminis- 
tered on that day, and therefore are shocked at the impro- 
priety of it! If these services were really held in private 
houses because of a desire to have children early dedicated to 
God, it would then be an exaltation of the ordinance—be a 
manifestation of high regard for it; since mothers cannot be 
expected, until their children are several weeks old, to be able 
to go up to the house of God. “It is proper that baptism be 
administered in the presence of the congregation,” (Direct. 
for Worship, ch. 7, sec. 5,) but in such cases it may “be expe- 
dient to administer this ordinance in private houses.” How 
many family records would show the great regard for this ordi- 
nance which was had by the parents of the late Dr. Chalmers, 
as evinced in the following extract from his father’s record: 
“ John Chalmers and Lucy Hall were married on the 20th 
August, 1771. Children by said marriage—1. James, born 
June 11, 1772; baptized June 14th. 2. Lucy, born Nov. 9, 
1773; baptized Nov. 14th. 38. Barbara, born June 21, 1775; 
baptized June 25th. 4. George, born April 1, 1777; baptized 
April 6th. 5. William, born Aug. 381, 1778; baptized Sept. 
6th. 6. Thomas, born March 17, 1780; baptized March 19th. 
7. Isabel, born Dec. 18,1781; baptized Dec. 16th. 8. David, 
born May 31, 1783; baptized June Ist. 9. John, born May 
19, 1785; baptized May 22d. 10. Helen, born August, 
1786; baptized Sept. 8d. 11. Jean, born June 29, 1788; 
baptized same day. 12. Patrick, born June 16, 1790; bap- 
tized June 20th. 13. Charles, born January 16, 1792; bap- 
tized January 22d. 14. Alexander, born April 9, 1794; 
baptized April 13th.” Not one of all the fourteen children of 
this record was over seven days old at the time of its baptism. 
Would there not be more such men as Thomas Chalmers, if we 
had more such parents as he had? 

Specific times seem to be set apart for the administration of 
infant baptism, generally about the communion season. Thus 
naturally, but unintentionally, the idea is instilled into the minds 


27 


of very many parents, that there is a fixed opportunity for 
their children’s baptism, and that it cannot be attended to at 
other times. We know this impression is common in the 
Church, and very general in some districts. And thus parents 
not being able to present their children at the specified time, 
Suppose it cannot be done till the next communion season; and 
should anything be in the way at that time it is again post- 
poned. Thus carelessness and neglect of the ordinance is 
engendered, and years roll around, when one, two, three, or six 
little ones added to the family, are without the seal of God’s 
favour. 

7th. We also think that another fact, not yet mentioned, 
is deserving our notice. About the year 1830, there were, 
annually, some 3,000 adults and 12,000 infants baptized, and 
about 9,000 members were received on profession of faith. 
Tt was usually the case, about that time, that the whole 
number of persons received on examination was nearly equal 
to the number of infants baptized. But in the year 1832, the 
number of members received on examination was trebled, as was 
also the number of adults baptized; but the increase in the 
number of infants baptized, was only one-twelfth—d, é., instead 
of having reported some 36,000 infants baptized, to 34,160 
persons received on profession of faith, there were only 13,246 
children thus admitted to this sealing ordinance. And so we 
find this state of things continued during the excitements in 
our churches from 1831 to 1836, which were of New England 
and Congregational origin. “New measures” were popular, 
and the old doctrine of infant baptism shamefully neglected. 
So that in three years, under the “new system,” there must 
have been received at least 40,000 or 50,000 members, besides 
the usual proportion of 40,000 more, who, from the beginning, 
entirely disregarded and ignored household baptism. This 
would indicate both indifference to this sacrament by church 
officers in receiving members, and a disregard of it on the part 
of the members received. We regard these facts as well 
deserving consideration, much more than we have time or space 
at present to devote thereto. The remarks already made in 
reference to the Congregational and New-school statistics thus 
receive additional confirmation. . 


28 


IV. What may be done to awaken the Church to a proper 
regard for the sacrament of baptism, the seal of God’s favour 
towards his little ones? 

On this point we will not now speak largely. Let brethren 
ponder well this whole subject. Let our Church judicatories, 
our pastors and our ruling elders consider well the solemn 
responsibilities now respectively resting on them. We will now, 
however, very briefly suggest some things which, it seems to 
us, may and ought to be done. 1. Let pastors and sessions 
give more attention to the requirements of the Constitution as 
presented, particularly in the former part of this article. If 
this were done, much, if not all, of the neglect would thus be 
removed. 2. Let pastors more frequently preach in regard to - 
the sacrament of baptism, and particularly point out the guilt 
of those who contemn or neglect it, since it is an ordinance of 
Christ himself. And let them also give proper attention to 
catechetical exercises amongst the youth. 3. Let Presbyte- 
ries and Synods inquire into the faithfulness with which 
pastors and sessions discharge their duties in this respect. Let 
an interest, a real interest, be manifested in regard to those 
admitted to the benefits of this sacrament, as well as those 
received to the Lord’s Supper; and let this interest also 
manifest itself in the giving and receiving their annual reports. 
4. Let Sessions, Presbyteries, and Synods insist more on 
family religion among their members, and they will learn 
highly to prize this seal of promise to the children of believers. 
5. It may be well for the General Assembly to consider the | 
propriety of overturing Presbyteries with reference to adding 
to the Constitution some of its own enjoinments, above quoted; 
and of adding one or two sections, regarding the time when 
baptism is to be administered, the time and manner of the 
pastor’s interview with parents previous to the baptism of their 
children, the qualifications of parents, &. And we would sug- 
gest that sessions be required to keep a register of all the children 
in their congregation, adding from time to time those born to 
their members, and the children of members received on certifi- 
cate, and report the same annually; and that Presbyteries report 
the same to the Assembly. 6. Let the Assembly insist that 
the Presbyteries under her care do require all members within 


29 


their respective jurisdictions to conform to the requisitions of 
our Confession of Faith and the teachings of the word of God. 
And, in particular, that they see to it that all their ministers, 
elders, and deacons, neither contemn nor neglect this holy 
ordinance. 7. Let the Assembly direct that baptized members 
be dismissed, and received as such on certificate, and that thus 
their being under the Church’s care and inspection be regarded 
as a matter of fact; every church having a list of baptized 
members, and annually reporting the same to the higher 
judicatories. 


ERRATA. 
On page 18, immediately under the heading, “Members for each infant baptized,” read, 
23 instead of 44 
a3 a AS 
Also. immediately under the heading, “ Per 1000 members,” read, 
44 instead of 23 
Aye EPs es 


- 
- 
* e- 
#) t 
es Py 
¥ 
; 
\ 
t 
' 


BY D. M. MITCHELL, 


PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. < 


A PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 


PRINTED BY 
G. W. & E W. NICHOLS, 
_WALDOBORO’. 
1839. 


Za 


Oe Ne oer “hee 


to 


DISCOURSE. 


ACTS xvi: 23. 


AND HE TOOK THEM THE SAME HOUR OF THE NIGHT, 


AND WASHED THEIR STRIPES; AND WAS BAPTIZED, 
HE, AND ALL HIS, STRAIGHTWAY. 


I make no apology for attempting to defend, what I 
deem Scriptural truth. I ask for no privilege, which 
I am not willing to grant to those who differ from me 
in opinion. I approach the field of controversy with 
great reluctance, especially as the subject of dispute is 
one, on which Christians differ. Your prayers are re- 
quested, my friends, that I may be guided by that spi- 
rit, which ‘“‘seeketh not her own, is not easily provok- 
ed, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but re- 
joiceth in the truth.” My aim shall be to give a can- 
did view of the subject, in such language, as shall be 
intelligible to all, and as shall give no just occasion of 
offence to any sincere enquirer after truth. 

The subject for discussion is Caristran Baptism ;— 
concerning which, I propose to answer two enquiries: 

First.— What is the Scriptural mode of administering 
the ordinance of Baptism? 

Secondly.— Who are the proper subjects ? 

Before we begin the discussion, respecting the mode 
of administering the rite of Baptism, let me premise 
two things. We have not, on either side, a command, 
exhibiting, in explicit terms, the mode, nor arguments 
amounting to mathematical demonstration. The evi- 
dence is circumstantial. Probabilities must be weigh- 
ed, and your assent must be yielded to the preponder- 
ance of evidence. | 

My second remark’,is,—We do not, on either side, 
profess to consider the belief of our peculiar sentiments 
essential to salvation. ‘There are friends of Christ, in 


4 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


‘both denominations, who expect to co 
family in heaven.* I might add here, w 
pute with those, who practicé immei 
the validity of their mode. We sup 
tity of water employed is not essenti: 
tity fully answers the design of the ordinane 
ing plunged in an ocean does not destroy this ¢ 
If, however, I can show that pouring or il 
is also éalid baptism, and moré pfobably the aposto 
mode, it will not be difficult to detefmime, whi 
be preferred. Let it, then, be distinctly 1 
that the only question between us is,— Wheil 
plication of water by pouring or sprinkling is Se 
baptisni? | age o* fee: 
I. Let us attend to the meaning of the word ; 
tism. Says a distinguishéd Baptist writér,—* Had the 
Greek word baptizo been translated, in the Englis 
version of the New Testament, there would have heen 
no dispute among English readers concerning its im-  ~ 
port.”; And why was it not translated? Evidently 
because the translators, who were men of great learn- 
ing and piety, found that the word. had not one uniform) 7 
meaning. Like almost every other important word, it” 
had several different meanings, and they could not hon- 
estiy give it one, to the exclusion of others. They did 
not render it immerse, because they knew it did not ~ 
unifornily signify immerse. They simply transeribed ~ 
it, and left each one to determine its meaning, by ex- © 
amininy its use in the Scriptures. cae 
Baptizo is a derivative from dapto, its root, which, as 
is admitted by distinguished Baptist writers, does not 
ahvays mean immerse. Hts primary meaning is wash, 
without regard to the mode of washing. It also means 
to immerse, dip, dye, tinge, cleanse by washing, sprin- 
kle, &c.t Baptizo is a derivative from bapto, and, aS ie 
we contend, ‘a diminutive also, of a more general sigmi- 
ication and importing less strongly the idea of immer—— 
sion.” But we need not insist upon this distinction. ~ 
It is sufficient to our purpose, that both words are of © 


te 


* We regret to say.so much stress is often laid upon the mode, by our” 
Baptist brethren, we are not surprised to find, that seme ignorant Christians ' 
infer that they must be immersed, or lost. ier ‘a 

+Judson’s Sermon, page 3. oe 

tMy limits do not permit me to refer to authorities; but they may be — sj 
found in almost every Treatise on the subject of Baptism. caer fon 


“st 


CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. == si 


the same import, as we depend chiefly upon the Scrip- 


tural use of the term to explain its meaning. 


As the word is used in the Old Testament, it cannot 
signify immerse. Daniel v: 21.—It is said of Nebu- 
_chadnezzar,—‘‘ his body was wet (baptized) with the 
dew of heaven.” Was he immersed in the dew? In 
the New Testament it reads—‘‘ And when they come 
from the market, except they wash (baptize) they eat 
not. And many other things there be which they have 
received to hold, as the washing (baptizing) cf cups, 
and pots, and brasen vessels, and tables.”—Mark vii: 4. 
Did they immerse their tables? The washing before 
meat, was washing the hands, which evidently might 
be done by pouring or otherwise, according to circum- 
stances.* In Hebrews ix: 10, the apostle, speaking of 
the Jewish economy, says,—‘‘ Which stood only in 
meats and drinks, and divers washings, (or baptisms,)” 
&e. By referring to the ceremonial law, we find that 
these baptisms were performed, by washing either the 
whole or a part of the body and by sprin/.'ing the water 
of separation. See Exodus xxix: 4; xxx: 19-—21; 
particularly Numbers xix: 7—21, and compare it with 
Hebrews ix: 19—21, and you will see unanswerable 
proofs that most, if not all, of these divers baptisms, 
were performed by sprinkling or pourmg. 

In 1 Corinthians x: 2, the apostle speaks of those, 
who passed through the Red sea.—‘ And were all 
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” How 
were they baptized? Not by plunging into the sea; 
for the history informs us, that “they went into the 
midst of the sea upon dry ground.” Was there nota 
shower of rain during their passage through the sea? ° 
Turn to the 77th Psalm and read from the 16th verse 
to the close, and you will see, that the scene was ren- 
dered doubly awful and grand by thunderings and 
lightnings, that ‘“‘the clouds poured out water.” Was 
not this a baptism by sprinkling? They surely were 
not immersed either in the cloud, or in the rain. You 


. see, therefore, that the word baptize, as used in the 


Scriptures, does not, uniformly or generally, signify 
immersion, and consequently that immersion is not es- 


sential to Christian baptism. fe 
=. 


“See Luke xi: 38. And ceinpare it with Matthew xv: &. 


6 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM.” 


II. Let us now consider some figurative all 
this subject. The Christian is said to be“ born 
and of the Spirit.” Baptism with water is an em 
of spiritual baptism. If in applying the external Si 
there is an emblematical exhibition of the purifying in. 
fluences of the Spirit, evidently, pouring or sprinkling — 
is the most expressive mode. ‘The descent of the Holy ~ 
Spirit is uniformly represented by pouring or sprink- — 
ling.—‘‘ I will pour out my Spirit unto you.” “Twill 
pour my Spirit on thy seed.” “TI will pour out my Spirit — 
upon all flesh.” “ He shall come down, like rain upon 
the mown grass.” ‘I will sprinkle clean water upon 
you, and ye shall be clean.” ‘So shall he sprinkle ~ 
many nations.”* i oe 

John said of Christ, ‘‘ he shall baptize with the Holy 
Ghost.” He promised his disciples that they should 
be “baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days 
hence.” ‘This was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, 
and the apostle speaks of it as the accomplishment of 
the prediction of Joel,—‘I will pour out my Spirit.” 
—Actsi: 5,8; and ii: 17. St. Paul speaks of the 
baptism of the Spirit, as ‘‘ the washing of regeneration 
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us 
abundantly.”—Titus ili: 5, 6.t 

What can be more evident than that the pouring and 
shedding forth of the Spirit and the baptism of the Spi- 
rit are the same? If so, then baptism, being the insti- 
tuted sign, to be emblematical of the thing signified, ~ 
should be administered by pouring or sprinkling. 

Baptism, being the emblem of purification, there is — 
also a natural and obvious allusion to the blood of atone- 
' ment, ‘‘ which cleanseth from all sin.” ‘This is repeat- 
edly denominated the blood of sprinkling. Hebrews 
xii: 24.—‘+ Ye are come to Jesus, the Mediator of the 
new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling.” &e, — 
‘¢ And sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 1 Pe- 
ter 12-2. a 

But there is a figurative allusion in Rom, vi: 4, and 
Col. ii: 12, which the advocates for immersion consider 
as speaking volumes for their mode. ‘Therefore we 
are buried with him by baptism into death.” If this 


7 Sat 4 s, , 
a aaa a pen Bodie’ 
See SE ee ee a 


ute: ae 
nis ae 


* Proverbs i: 23. Ysaiabexliv: 3. Joel ii: 28. Psalms Ixxii: 6. .Ezeke 
iel xxxvi: 25. Isaiah lii: 15. des 
+ Acts xi: 15. 1 Corinthians xii: 13. 


CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. _ it ae 


st ~ 2 3 ’ . 

“has an allusion to the mode of baptism, it has an impor- 
| tant bearing on the subject; if not, it has no force at 
all. Let us enquire. 


Dr. Judson, a late Baptist writer, whom the denom- 
ination consider one of their most able advocates, says, 
that the apostle here refers ‘‘to spiritual baptism and 


Spiritual circumcision.” This is the general sentiment 
_ of the most learned critics. Indeed, it requires an im- 


agination of more than ordinary powers to see the re- 
semblance between plunging one in water and the 
burial of Christ in the tomb of Joseph. Says a distin- - 
guished writer,—‘‘the image or figure of immersion, 
baptism, is, so far as I know, no where else in Scripture 
employed as a symbol of burial in the grave. Nor can 
I think, that it is a very natural symbol of burial. The 
obvious import of washing with water, or immersing in 
water, is, that it is symbolical of purity, cleansing, pu- 
rification. But, how will this aptly signify burying in 
the grave, the place of corruption, loathsomeness, and 
destruction.”—Dr. Stuart. 

In the passage in Romans, the apostle speaks of a death 
and a resurrection. Now according to all just interpre- 
tation, if the death referred to is natural death, the life is 
natural life. But it will be seen in a moment, that the 
resurrection to newness of life is a spiritual and not a 
natural resurrection. Of course, then, the death, set 
in opposition to it, is spiritual. As Christ died for sin, 
we die to sin; as he rose from the dead, we rise from 
spiritual death to newness of life. We profess to have 
experienced this great spiritual change, when we are 
baptized into Christ. Hence there is no allusion to the 
mode, but, as Dr. Judson says, ‘‘to the spiritual mean- 
ing of baptism.” 

If this interpretation needs confirmation, examine 
the figurative expressions in the two following verses. 
They are plainly intended to illustrate and enforce the 
same sentiment. ‘ For if we have been planted togeth- 
er in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the 
likeness of his resurrection.” Here the figure is chang- 
ed from burying to planting, and in the next verse, to 
crucifixion. ‘ Knowing this, that our old man is cru- 


_ ecified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, 


that henceforth we should not serve sin.” These sey- 
eral illustrations are employed to enforce the truth, 


Go a CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 


previously asserted, that he who is dead t0" 
ry believer professes to be, when he ist 
live any longer therein. Bia dg 
But, if the allusion in this passage is ne 
of baptism, then that appeal so often mac 
sions of the unthinking multitude,—** Who is willing 
to obey his Saviour, and follow him into his watery 
grave,” is an imposition. Christ was not buried in th 
water; but ina tomb of stone. He was not let dow 
into a grave, according to our customary manner of bu 
rying, but deposited in the side ofa temb, probably — 
above ground. Where is the resemblance between 
immersion and this act ? ge pe A. : 
Ill. I will now direct your attention to the practice © 
of the apostles. ‘The mode of baptism, practised by — 
John, is generally believed by those who consider im- 
mersion the only Scriptural mode, to be settled be-_ 
yond a question. It seems to them so perfectly clear 
that the Saviour was immersed, and that his example — 
must be imitated by all his followers, that they feel” 
justified in denying those, who differ from them in opin-~ 
ion, a standing in the Christian church. But is it set- 
tled beyond question, that John baptized by immer- 
sion? We must not be deceived by the sound of” 
words, as though his mode of baptizing can be deter-" 
mined from the fact, that he is called “‘ John the Bap- 
tist.” This only denotes that he was a baptizer, and ~ 
determines nothing in regard to the mode in whieh he © 


administered the ordinance. John resorted to a place ~ 
of ‘much water” or many waters, for other purposes, — 
than simply for the convenience of performing his bap- — 
tisms. Think of the multitudes, who resorted to him — 
for instruction. They could not be sustained a single — 
day in that sultry climate without much water for their 
refreshment. When our Methodist brethren select a 
place to hold a Camp-Meeting, do they not pitch their — 
tents where there is abundance of water? For what — 
purpose? For the convenience of baptizing, or for 
purposes of refreshment? How much more necessary 
was it in that country, where “much water’ was a 
thing of rare occurrence. Travellers assure us, that in 
the region, where John preached and baptized, are t 
be found only springs and small streams, affording n 
convenience for baptizing by immersion. Many cir 


CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 9 


sumstances of his baptism seem inconsistent with im- 
) mersion, and render it probable, that he practised, or- 
" dinarily, some other mode. He baptized “‘in the des- 
ert,’ as well as at Jordan: he baptized with water as 
well as in it. He baptized in the open fields, where 
“there were no accommodations for a change of apparel. 
* And more than all, he baptized vast multitudes in a 
little time. His ministry could not have continued 
» more than a year and a haif; in which time he baptized 
~ * Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round 
about Jordan.”— Matthew iii: 5. Some Baptists have 
thought it probable that he baptized at least 500,000 
persons. But to immerse these in a year and a half, 
allowing only a minute for the immersion of each, he 
must have been constantly in the water, every day, for 
more than fifteen hours. Is it credible that he should 
do this, especially since we are assured that he “did 
no miracle?” Is it credible, then, that in erdinary 
cases John baptized by immersion.”—_Dr. Pond’s Trea- 
lise on Christian Baptism, page 38. 

But does not Matthew say. (iii: 6,) they were bap- 
tized of him in Jordan. So it reads in our translation, 
» and it affords an illustration of the fact, that the prepo- 
p sitions have different meanings. It reads baptized of 
» him, meaning evidently by him. So “in Jordan” may 
with propriety be rendered af Jordan. In Luke xiii: 
» 4, our Saviour speaks of the tower “in Siloam.” Sj- 

loam was a pool and the tower was not in but near it.— 

© Heb. x:12. Christ sat down not in, but on the right 
' hand of God. The same preposition is used in these 
_ passages. But do we not read that Jesus, “when he 
was baptized, went up straightway out of the water?’ 

_ The Jordan had banks and it would be necessary 10 go 
up, if he only went down {fo the water, or stepped his 
feet into the water. That the word, rendered out of, 
might have been translated from, you may see by ex- 
_ amining passages where the same Greek word is used. 
_ Acts xii: 10,—The angel “forthwith departed from 
him,” not out of him. I might refer you to others; but 
my limits will not permit. Agreeably to this construc- 
tion of John’s mode of baptizing, it is said, that he bap- 

_ tized with water. But those, who favor immersion, say 
this is an error in translation. Let us see. “I indeed 
baptize you with water; but he shall baptize you with 
te 


——— a! 


‘Se ha” oi 


_- yerses the preposition en is omitted hefore udatt. ve 


10 ss CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


we 


the Holy Ghost.”—Mark i: 8. John 


baptized with water, the most natural supposition is, — 
that he did not immerse. re 
But admitting that this was the mode, practised by 
him, and that Christ was immersed ; it will not follow 
that we must imitate his example in this rite. Christ ~ 
himself was ‘‘a minister of the circumcision,” born un- — 
der the law, and doubtless his forerunner was. The old ~ 
dispensation was not abolished; ‘the hand writing of ~ 
ordinances was not blotted out, till Christ nailed itto © 
his cross.’—Col. ii: 14. _ John was more distinguished, © 
than any one who preceded him; but says Christ, “he — 
that is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than ~ 
he.”—Matt. xi: 11. The connection shows that the ~ 
Gospel dispensation is here referred to. Jt became the © 
High Priest of our profession “to fulfil all righteous- 
ness,” all that was required of him by the ceremonial ~ 
law. Hence he was circumcised and observed other ~ 
ceremonies, offered the customary sacrifices and par- 
took of the passover. For the same reason he was in- ~ 
ducted into his priestly office by washing with water, ~ 
(see Leviticus viii: 6, 12,) receiving immediately after 
his baptism the anointing of the Holy Ghost. As, ~ 
therefore, Christ’s baptism was a mere legal ceremony 
of the Jewish dispensation, we may, with as much pro- 
priety, be called upon to practise circumcision, to keep — 
the passover or to comply with any other ceremonial ~ 
washing, as to follow his example in baptism. Accord- — 
ingly Mr. Robert Hall, a distinguished Baptist writer, 
and many others make no account of John’s baptism in 
the argument with those who advocate sprinkling. — 
They agree with us, that the Gospel dispensation com- 
menced after the Saviour’s resurrection, when he di- 
rected his apostles,—‘‘ Go ye and make disciples of all 
nations, baptizing them in, or into, the name of the 
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” If any — 
* Matthew xxvi: 52. 1f any wish to consult the original Greek to ascer- 


tain the propriety of this rendering, compare with Matthew ii: 11; Mark ; 
i: 8; John i: 26; Lukeiii: 16; Actsi: 5; and xi: 16. Inthe last three & 


CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. aK Il 


doubt remains, turn to Acts xix: 2—5, where it ap- 
pears, that “‘ certain disciples,” who had received John’s 
_ baptism, were baptized again in the name of the Lord 
Jesus. J)id the apostle Paul believe, that John’s bap- 
tism was Gospel baptism ? 
J But it is time to enquire-—What was the apostolic 
mode. ‘The history commences with that, which oc- 
curred on the day of Pentecost: Acts ii: 41,—“‘ Then 
they that gladly received his word were baptized ; and 
the same day there were added unto them about three 
thousand souls.” Here nothing is said of the mode, on- 
ly that they were baptized. But will not the circum- 
stances throw light on the subject? They were in 
Jerusalem, where we find neither river nor creek; in 
the summer season of Judea, when they had scarcely 
any rains, the brook Kedron was dry, and nothing re- | 
mained but the pool of Siloam.* “Where could the 
apostles have found places to immerse so many? Would 
the rulers, in all their opposition, suffer them to use the 
public baths? Or if they did, could the twelve apos- 
tles, after expending at least half the day in preaching 
and making the necessary preparations, baptize 250 
each by immersion? Some have conjectured that the 
seventy disciples were present and assisted in baptizing, 
but the history gives no intimation of the fact, and the” 
assumption is altogether gratuitous. The unprejudiced 
reader will see evidence sufficient that the apostles only 
performed the services of that occasion and that they 
must have done it in a more expeditious way than by 
immersion. And as the converts had just been bap- 
tized by pouring out the Spirit upon them, what more 
natural than that the emblematic sign should be admin- 
istered in the same mannér?—Acts ii: 17 , 18, 33, 
The next in order, where any circumstances are re- 
lated, is that of the Eunuch, baptized by Philip: Acts 
Vili: 38,—“ And he commanded the chariot to stand 
still; and they went down, both into the water, both 
Philip and the Eunuch; and he baptized him. And 
when they were come up out of the water,” &c. Now 
I shall not deny, that this passage taken as it reads, 
without-reflection, seems to favor immersion. I wonder 
not, that our Baptist brethren claim it as a strong proof 


* Travellers say that this Pool flows only at intervals, and is not deep 
¢30ugh for immersion, 


12 CHRISTIAN BAPTIS} 


text. ‘This only shows the importance of 
tigation, a careful weighing of circumstances. — 
[t is said,—‘‘ They came unio a certain wa 
whether a river, stream, brook or spr 
informed. Going down into and coming ov 
fore remarked, and as every one, acquainted 
original language, well knows, might, with eq 
priety, have been rendered to and from. ar 
sition eis translated into, is translated to fi re times 
this same chapter. And this translation seems the 
more important in this passage ; as it reads, that “ they 
both went down into the water.” We presume, the 
the most strenuous advocate for immersion will not co1 
tend that Philip immersed himself as well as the Hu- 
nuch. But if the expression ‘into the water,” proves 
immersion, as is contended, then it proves that both 
were immersed, and the Eunuch twice; because it is 
said Philip baptized him after he went into the water. 
But, it may be asked, why did he go into the water, if 
not to be immersed? He went fo, or if you imsist upon 
the present translation, into the water for convenience, 
whatever the mode in which the rite was administered. © 
Another circumstance is worthy of notice. The Hu- 7% 
nuch was reading a passage in Isriah 52d and 53d chap-~ 
ters, (for the book was not then divided into chapters.) " 
_ that passage in which these words occur: “So shall he — 
sprinkle many nations.” How came the Eunuch to 
know any thing concerning the iniatory ordinance of 
baptism? Was it not because this passage alluded to 
it,and constituted one subject of conversation between 
him and Philip? And would the Evangelist teach him 
that the Messiah shall sprinkle many nations, and then” 
go and plunge him into a rivef, or pond? oe a 
Let it be remembered, that this is the only instance of 
Gospel baptism, in which the slightest intimation is _ 
given, that it was done ina river, brook, or pond, or 
that the parties moved from the place where they were, | 
when the conversion occurred, for the purpose of ad- 
ministering baptism, and this was evidently a case of 
necessity. Here is the foundation, on which the rite of — 
immersion rests. Is it not a slender foundation?: The 
texts which speak of being ‘‘ buried with Christ,” on 
which some confidently rely, are given up as untena- 
ble, by some of their ablest writers, as I have alread 
remarked, * ee 


’ 


The next example of Christian baptism is that of 


"Paul. Of this nothing is recorded, but, having his ~ 
' sight restored, he ‘arose and was baptized.”—Acts” 
ix: 18. He was in the house, debilitated by long fast- 


_ ing, and no intimation is given that he left the place 
_ for baptism. Ifthe passage teaches any thing respect-_ 
“ing the mode, it is that he was baptized in a private 
room and standing. Nothing in this case looks like 


immersion. The next chapter contains the history of 
Cornelius’ baptism. Peter preached to him and others, 


_ assembled on the occasion. The Holy Ghost fell on 
_ them. he apostle, satisfied in regard to their faith, 


says,—* Can any man forbid water, that these should 
not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost 
as wellas we? And he commanded them to be bap- 
tized in the name of the Lord.”—Acts x: 47,48. Here 
is nothing decisive respecting the mode, but the ques- 
tion, “Can any mau forbid water,” seems naturally to 
suggest, that water was to be procured and brought and 
not that they were to go in search of a place for immer- 
Sion. And as the baptism of the Holy Ghost had just 
been performed in the usual way of pouring out, or 
shedding down, the rite of water baptism was adminis- 
tered in a form, which would aptly represent the spirit- 


ual baptism. 


The next example is that of Lydia and her house- 


' hold. She had resorted to the vicinity of a river for 


prayer. She heard the apostles preach, and the Lord 
opened her heart to receive the word spoken by Paul. 
‘* And when she was baptized, and her household,” the 
history does not say where or how, “‘ she besought us,” 
&c. Her being by the river-side for prayer had noth- 
ing to do with her baptism, this being a place of resort 
for prayer, and there is not a hint, that she went into 
the water, or even to the river, to be baptized. In the 


same chapter is the case of the Jailor, alluded to in the 


text.—‘‘ And he took them the same hour of the night 
and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all 
his, straightway.” Though this passage gives no ex- 
press description of the mode, look at the circum- 
stances. They were all within the bounds of the pris- 


_ on, the prisoners and all the city had been roused by 


an earthquake. Would the apostles, bruised and 
svounded as they were, leave the prison at midnight 


a 


PSCHRISTIAN. DAPTISM eh eee | Que 


ro 


he 


_-_ and go in search of a bathing establishme 


ee 


- law, the terror of which had just before drive 


_ Fathers, from Cyprian down, uniformly admit, that 


Jon 


immerse the Jailor and his family 7 
ably, any such convenience within t 
erable Roman jail? All the circumsta 
supposition. ‘They must have been ba { 
spot, ‘‘ the same hour of the night” in wh 

lieved. In confirmation of this opinion, 
careful the apostle was not to leave the prisor 
day until the magistrates came and took him o 
ly. Did he then go out in the night, while 
city was awake, and carry the Jailor and his 
search of a place for baptism? Would he thu 
the keeper of the prison to the severe penalt 


desperation and excited him to self murder? All 
circumstances of the case are opposed to the suppo: 
tion, that he and his family were baptized by immersio 
These are the only examples of apostolic baptism, 
which any incidents are given, which would lead to 
probable conjecture respecting the mode. I am not 
disposed to make more of them, than an obvious con 
struction will admit. But, with the exception of the 
Kunuch, is there a remote intimation that immersion — 
was practised? Do not the circumstances decidedly 
favor the opinion, that pouring or sprinkling was the 
mode? Do not the reasons which have been suggest 
ed, make it probable that the Eunuch went down 
the water for convenience, because in his situation, no 
other method was practicable or could so easily be 
adopted? But, allowing all that can be said by the 
most strenuous advocate for immersion on this solitary 
‘ease, would it be candid to build our faith on this single 
passage of history, disregarding all the circumstantial — 
evidence attending the other examples? a) 
IV. We may now consider the practice of the early 
Christians. On this argument great stress is laid by — 
the advocates for immersion. How much it strengthens — 
their cause we shall see. This general remark can be - 
fully substantiated by an examination of the writings — 
of the Fathers, that immersion was never considered 
essential to baptism, from the apostolic age to the 16th — 
century. I say esggntial, for this is what the Baptists — 
must prove to make their cause good. Now the 


+ Je 


mt, ee : 


"3 


ges 
“ae 


pouring or spriv 
ne sick, or when the case required haste, &c.* 


tized by immersion, it would not prove that the apos- 


_ the professed followers of Christ had begun to depart 
_ widely from the apostolic rule, and to add to the simple 
rites of the Gospel. It is natural to men to overdo in 
forms and ceremonies. ‘Some must be immersed three 
» times. Some must receive the cross, and others be 
~ anointed with oil after baptism, et cetera. The same 
state of mind, which would induce them to ascribe vir- 
tue to these unscriptural rites, would lead them to in- 
crease the quantity of water and repeat the baptism, to 
give it special efficacy. And,as in those warm Climates 
it would not be attended with particular inconvenience, 
they might casily slide into the practice of immersion. 
Y. But let us consider the import of the ordinance. 

_ Though allusion has already been made to it, I give it 
| a distinct and the last place, because, as I conceive, it 
has more weight than any other argument. 'The exter- 
nal application of water is an emblem of spiritual puri- 
“fication. When God says,—Ezek. xxxvi: 25—27,— 
* A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit 
_ will I put within you,” he means that he will regene- 
“rate them. And when he says in the next verse,—‘ I 
_ will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean,” 
_ he must mean one of two things; either regeneration 
or water baptism. If he means baptism, then sprink- 
ling is evidently the mode. If he speaks figuratively 
_ of their regeneration, he represents, by the emblem of 
' sprinkling clean water, an expressive sign of this in- 
ward change. The design of it is to impress our minds, 
_ by an expressive figure, with the nature and necessity 
of purity of heart. And this is the figure, which the 
_ Holy Ghost has employed. It is not the quantity of 
water, but the application of water, which constitutes 
the sign. The design is answered as fully by the use 
of a few drops, as by the waters of the ocean; and if 
Scriptural use is to be regarded, much more signifi- 


from page 43 to page 52. 


kling was practised and allowable, for 


ae 


i tiles used this mode.- For we have abundant. evidence ss 
* in the writings of the early fathers, that in many things, 


as ; 


TAN BAPTISM feeeeste are 1 Ge 


|. But couid it be ascertained to a certainty that Chris- 
' tiaiis, in the secend and third centuries, generally bap- — 


7 


___ * For authorities I must refer to Treatises on Baptism. See Dr. Pond’s, er 


16. a 
cantly. Hence the quantity of water 
lial. : & 

Had the quantity been essential, woul 
Scriptures have been more explicit? Had the 
lar mode of washing been indispensable, woul 
cred writers have used a term, of various signi 
Especially, had they believed immersion to be the only 
mode, would they have used the word baptize, “which 
means to immerse, wash by pouring and otherwise, and 
to sprinkle, in connection with a history of circum ‘ 
stances, which make it morally impossible that the sub- 
jects of baptism could have been immersed? Let it be © 
observed that the inspired writers are always precise, ~ 
when precision is required. ah 

We have asimilar case in the ordinance of the Lord’s_ 

Supper. The elements, bread and wine, are speci-~ 
fied, but not the quantity to be used. ‘The design of ~ 
this ordinance is clearly revealed, the transactions of” 
the first celebration by Christ and his apostles are ac- 
curately related; but who thinks of imitating all the _ 
circumstances of that interesting ceccasion? ‘The de- | 
sign is all-important to be regarded, put the manner of — 
receiving the elements, the place where, or the precise © 
quantity, no one considers essential. And why can We = 
not put as liberal a construction on the mode of admin- 
istering the other ordinance? Both are very similar — 
in their nature and they are designed to be as simple 
as possible. We may, with more propriety, be re- | 
quired to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in an upper 
chamber, in the evening, with unleavened bread and 
in a reclining posture, as indispensable accompani- 
ments, than to be baptized by immersion. es 

What, then, is essential to Christian baptism? Water, 
applied to the proper subjects, by an officer qualified 
to administer the ordinance, in the name of the Father, 
the Son and the Holy Ghost. The particular mode in 
which it is applied and the precise quantity of water 
employed are not essential. But, if the quantity is not 
essential, it may be asked,—Why will you not baptize 
by immersion? Because, sprinkling is more Scriptu- 
ral, whether we regard its signification, or the circum- 
stances in which it was administered. ‘This I have at- 
tempted to prove and this is my own decided conviction: 

Immersion has too much the appearance of a burden- 


CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 17 


‘some rite to correspond with the simplicity of the Gos- 
> pel dispensation. Those, who are easily affected by 
| imposing forms, are in danger of making it a substitute 
| for the righteousness of Christ ; thaking too much ac- 
count of the self-denial required in going into the wa- 
ter. They mistake the nature of the cross, which 
- Christians are required to bear. As this ordinance is 
- generally administered in the country, it usually ope- 
"rates as a diversion to the spectators and it is totally 
unsuited to that calm, serious and devout state of mind, 
Which the subject ought to have, when consecrating 
© himself to God. With females, especially, the terrors 
» of the scene usually expel all better feelings from the 
mind. In many cases, it is extremely hazardous, and 
in others impessible, to baptize by immersion. It is 
an umnecessary exposure of health. The sick cannot 
be immersed. In the frozen regions of Siberia, immer- 
sion is impracticable and in the deserts of Africa you 
may travel hundreds of miles and not find water suffi- 
' cient for an immersion. But the Gospel is to be 
"preached to every creature, all nations shall be made 
disciples and I prefer a mode of baptism, which can be 
administered to all people and in all climes. 

In conclusion, I would make only a single remark. 
If baptism by sprinkling or pouring has the support, 
which I have exhibited from the Scriptures, where is 
the propriety of excluding those, who practise accord- 
ing to this mode, from the Christian church, and from 
the table, which Christ has spread for his disciples? 
Is the system of close communion Scriptural? No, my 
friends, not a syllable can be brought from the Bible 
to justify it. It is directly opposed to the spirit of 
Christianity and to the practice of the apostles and early 
Christians. Admitting that those, who practise sprink- 
ling, are in error; is it an error, which involves the sal- 
vation of the soul?’ This is not pretended. The prim- 
itive Christians, as you will see by reading the Epistles 
of Paul, adopted different sentiments and different 
practices, as important as this; but they did not ex- 
clude each other from the church and from the Lord’s ~ 
Supper. 

But it will be said,—You have not been baptized. 
Who has a right to determine infallibly what the true 
sense of Scripture is? It certainly is not very indica~_ 
3 


18. ~———sC CRISTIAN BAPTISM. | 


> ae 


tive of Christian humility to maintain, that all 
is on one side of the question under discussio ) 
not our Baptist brethren to receive our sentiments, un=_ 
less they find them in the Bible; and yet we are will- 
ing tocommune with them. They receive us as Chris-— 
tians ; and we only ask to be permitted to answer a ~ 
_ good conscience in interpreting the Bible for ourselves 
Is this an offence for which we must be excluded the 
Christian church, especially when the point of differ 
ence has not an inseparable connection with salvation 
Have we not reasons for an honest belief, that we have 
been baptized? Does not the Great Head of th 
Church own us as his ministers, his churches? Does’ 
he not shed down his Spirit upon us? Does he not 
commune with us in prayer and at his table? Unless” 
we are greatly deceived he does. We have had bless- 
ed seasons of communion with Him in celebrating this” 
solemn ordinance, according to our convictions of duty. 
Need we, then, be troubled about our baptism? Need — 
our Baptist friends be troubled about it? If Christ re- 
ceives us as a part of his church and fulfils the promises 
made to his church, can they not safely receive us tome 
their fellowship and give us a seat at his table? i 
It is high time that this stumbling-block, were re- — 
moved. It has too long grieved the hearts of God’s — 
perpre and separated those on both sides, who would ~ 
ave rejoiced to be united by closer ties. It has done 
much to strengthen the hands of the wicked and in- 
crease the unbelief and hardness of those, who live on 
the divisions of the church. ree eae 


Our second inquiry is,— Who are the proper subjects 
of baptism ? 

We believe, that the ordinance should be adminis- 
tered to unbaptized adults, when they profess their 
faith in Christ and enter into covenant with God. We 
also believe, that it should be administered “to children 
who are under the care of believing, covenanting parents.” 
The sentiment, contained in the latter of these proposi- 
tions, is the only subject for examination, in this part” 
of the controversy. To my mind, it is altogether the _ 
most interesting and important part of the whole sub- — 
ject in debate. And has not the Holy Spirit so decid- 
ed? The particular mode of administering the ordi- 


- ss ChRISTIAN BAPTISM. _ _—% 19 


mance, as wé have seen, is not explicitly revealed. 
Terms of indefinite meaning are used and circumstances _ 
are related, which sincere Christians, honestly in search — 
of truth, interpret, some, as favoring one mode, and 


"ny, that baptism may be administered, in either form, 
without destroying its validity. 
__ But, is the evidence in favor of infant baptism thus 
_ indefinite? Have we nothing but circumstantial proof, 
_ no direct arguments, no command, to show, that the child- 
_ fen of covenant believers are entitled to baptism? Are 
_ these two subjects so intimately connected, so depen- 
dent on each other, that we must necessarily,—as we 
might infer from what obtains at the present day ,—de- 
ny infant baptism, because we believe in immersion? 
or receive the doctrine, because we believe in sprink- 
_ ling? We shall see, I trust, in the course of this inves- 
: tigation, that these two subjects have no necessary con- 
nexion; that the evidence, by which they are sup- 
pone is entirely independent, that, in favor of house- 
) old baptism, being altogether more direct and posi- 
: tive. We shall see, that, for many centuries, whether 
» baptizing by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling, Chris- 
_ tians universally, believed in the covenant relation of 
s children, and consecrated them to God in baptism. 
. That children, who are under the care of believing, 
_  covenanting parents, should be baptized, I shall endea- 
vor to prove,— 
1. Krom the nature of the Abrahamic covenant. 
I scarcely need remind you, that a subject to which the 
apostle has devoted a large proportion of the Epistles 
to the Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews, and on which 
volumes have been written by distinguished theelogi- 
_ ans, must be very imperfectly exhibited, within the 
_ limits allowed to this discourse. All, that I can possi- 
_ bly do, is to refer you to a part of the evidence from 
' Seripture, that the covenant made with Abraham under 
the old dispensation, shorn of some local appendages, 
and the covenaut made with believers, under the new dis- 
pensation, are one and the same covenant; and the ap- 
pointed seals of the covenant, though differing in form, 
are of the same import. If this can be proved, it will 
clearly follow, that the seal should be applied to the 
Same subjects, under both dispensations, unless an e2- 


‘some, another mode. The Holy Spirit bears testimo- a 


press provision to. the contrary ¢ 


the Bible. 7 
That the Abrahamic covenant an 
believers is the same, will appear evide 
that they promise and secure the same bles 
ee commenced the ancient church with Abrah 
family, making an everlasting covenant with him. 
Genesis xvii: we have this covenant described and the 
~ manner in which the seal must be appli . Having 
_ promised to make him the father of many ations, God 
"says, verses 7 and 8,—‘ And I will establish my cove- 
nant between me and thee, and thy seed after t in 
their generations, for an everlasting covenant; to be a 
God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” Before the” 
formal establishment of this covenant, he received the © 
promise,—“ And in thee shall all the families ‘of the 
earth be blessed.”—Gen. xii: 3. Andat a subsequent 
eriod, when his faith and obedience had been severe- 
y tested by the command to offer his son in sacrifice 
Jehovah solemnly renewed the covenant pledge. Gen 
xxii: 16.—‘‘ By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord 
for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not with 
held thy son, thine only son; ‘That in blessing I wil 
bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy see 
as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upo 
the sea shore. And in thy seed shall all the nations © 
the earth be blessed.” In these examples you may dis 
tinctly see, that, though temporal blessings are prom- 
ised to Abraham and his children, as temporal blessings 
are promised to believers now ; spiritual blessings an 
a spiritual seed are specially promised. This we coul 
‘distinctly read on the face of the covenant, had not the 
apostle given us the true import. To his anxious en- 
quirers on the day of Pentecost, he says,— Repen 
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesu 
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive th 
gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, — 
and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as — 
many as the Lord our God shall call.”— Acts ii: 38, 38 
Did not the promise of the covenant have special refe1 
ence to spiritual blessings? And again:—* Yeare the’ 
children of the prophets, and of the covenant which G 
made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham,—And 1 
. thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be bless 


i 


beta 


> you from his iniquities.”— Acts iii: 25, 26. 


ee. Tae 


is, 


he, 


eo CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 21 


i. 
) Unto you first, God, having raised up his Son Jesus, 


a 


sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of 


Hear the apostle Paul, also; Gal. iii: 16—18: “ Now 
»to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He 
"saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And 

to thy seed, which is of Christ. And this I say, That 
the coyenant that was confirmed before by God in 
Christ,” meaning the Abrahamic covenant, “‘ the law, 
which was four hundred and thirty years after,” that is, 
the Sinaic covenant with Moses and the Israelites, 
“cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none 


| effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no 


more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by 
promise.” Of what promised inheritance does the 
apostle speak? Not of the earthly Canaan, for Abra- 
ham did not inherit that land, and a reference to it 
would not have been appropriate to the design of his 
argument, which was to prove the doctrine of justifica- 
tion by faith. He must refer to that heavenly country, 
which all the spiritual seed of Abraham will inherit 
through faith in Jesus Christ. 

In his Epistle to the Hebrews, viii: 8 and onward, 
he has given us the covenant, which belongs to the 
Gospel dispensation. He calls it a new covenant, not 
as some represent, to distinguish it from that made with 
Abraham; but to distinguish it from that made with Is- 
rael. ‘‘ Not according to the covenant that I made 
with their fathers, when I took them by the hand to 
lead them out of Egypt,’ &c. ‘For this is the cove- 
nant that I will make with the house of Israel, after 
those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into 
their mind and write them in their hearts; and I will 
be to them a God and they shall be to me a people.” 
Heb. viii: 10. Does this covenant imply more or less, 
than the promise to Abraham,—‘‘I will be a God to 
thee and to thy seed after thee?” Does the former in- 
clude greater or more spiritual blessings than the lat- 
ter? Can there be a more extensive promise made to 
the church, under the present dispensation ? 

With what semblance of truth, then, can it be said, 
that the Abrahamic covenant was temporary and secur- 

_ed only temporal blessings? Is not the promise, ‘‘ And 
in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” 


CHRISTIAN BAP 


confessedly ‘‘the ever memorable chai 
blessings which Jewish and Gentile heliey 
through Christ.” * ‘This promise, as we have seen, was 
given at the call of Abraham ; and, to show that it was 


aR 


a promise of the covenant, it was repeated when Jeho-~ 
vah so solemnly renewed his covenant with Abraham. — 


- Gen. ii: 16; and when he renewed it with Isaac and 4 
Jacob.—Gen. xxvi: 2—4; xxviii: 13—15. It was so © 
understood, by the apostle Peter.—Acts ii: 25. This” 
is truly ‘‘the ever memorable charter of all the bless-~ 
ings.” conveyed to the church in every age, and must ~ 
be so considered, by every enlightened Christian. ~ 
Again,—is there nothing spiritual in the promise,— 
will be thy God and ye shall be my people” Wh 
better promise had the Patriarchs, referred to by Paul 
in the 11th of Hebrews, who unmindful of their earth 
ly home, desired a better country, eyen an heavenly ? 
‘‘ Wherefore,” says he, ‘‘ God was not ashamed to be 
called their God.” What more extensive promise has 
the believer now, than that in the Revelation xxi: 7,— 
‘‘ He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and J ill : 
be his God and he shall be my son.” Most evidently, — 
therefore, apart from those temporal blessings, which — 
are shadows of good things to come, the same spiritual 
blessings were included in the covenant made with ~ 
Abraham, which are promised in the covenant made ~ 
with believers under the present dispensation, andihey, 
must be one and the same covenant. ie e, i 
2. The condition of the covenant, under both dispen- ~ 
sations, is the same. This condition is faith. The 
apostle, quoting from Genesis, says,— ‘Abraham be- — 
lieved God and it was counted unto him for righteous- ~ 
ness.” ‘‘ And he received the sign of circumcision, @ — 
seal of thewighteousnes of the faith, which he had, yet — 
being uncircumcised ; that he might be the father of — 
all them that believe, though they be not circumcised,” re- 
ferring evidently to believing Gentiles. “For the 
promise that he should be the heir of the world, was 
not to Abraham or to his seed, through the law, but ~ 
through the righteousness of faith.—Rom. tv : 2—25. 
Here the proof is abundant, that real religion, or a liv- 
ing principle of faith, was required of those, who en-— 


pe 


4 Dr. Judson’s Sermon, page 24. 


¢ a ie —é 


CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 23 


sred into covenant with God, and that the original seal 


> had a spiritual meaning. The same apostle is explicit 


‘on this subject. “He is not a Jew, which is one out- 


_Wardly ; neither is that circumcision, which is outward 


in the flesh; but he is a Jew. which is one inwardly ; 
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and 
not in the letter.”—Rom. ii: 28, 29. He, therefore, 


_ commands his people to circumcise their hearts. See 


also his promise to circumcise their hearts and the 
hearts of their seed, recorded in Deut. Xxx: 6. 

But as a living principle of faith was the condition, 
in the Abrahamic covenant, it will not be denied that 


» the covenant of grace has the same condition ; or that 


the promises of the Gospel are made only to believers. 
Those, certainly, who deny the right of infants to bap- 
tism, because they are unable to exercise faith in the 
promises of the covenant, will admit that this ordinance 
is “‘a seal of the righteousness of faith.” : 

From the Abrahamic covenant and from that now 
made with believers, men are liable to be cut off, and 
for the same reason ;—viz: for unbelief. This is dis- 
tinctly asserted by Paul, in his admirable illustration 
of the identity of the church under both dispensations, 
by a reference to the good olive tree, which we shall 
examine in another place. Hence it appears, that un- 
der the coyenant of Abraham and the covenant of be-. 


_ lievers now, faith secures the promised blessings and 


they are lost by unbelief. The condition, being the 
same in both, they are, in this respect, but one coye- 
nant. 

3. The covenant promises in both, are all of grace 
through Jesus Christ. The apostle, in Rom. iv: 16, 
to which I have referred you, speaking of the promise 
to Abraham, says,—‘ Therefore it is of faith that it 
might be by grace ; to the end that the promise might 
be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the 
law, but to that also which is the Jaith of Abraham, who 
is the father of us all.” The force of the apostle’s rea- 
soning we shall see, when we understand the design of 

is argument. The Jews were unwilling to relinquish 
their hold on the ceremonial law, as a means of justifi- 
cation; and they even required, that the Gentiles 
should observe these ceremonies. He labors to con- 


_ Yince them, that Abraham did not depend for justifica- 


hk 


Be: ose  OURISTIAN BAPTISM. 


tion on his circumcision, ef cetera; but he was just 


a were not made to him on the ground of 


by faith, before he was circumcised ; and the 


the blessing of braha 
through Jesus Christ.” 
ing, which Christ has pure levers: 
under the new dispensation ? 
benefits, which God promised to this faithful Patriarch 
and his natural descendants, an inheritance in the lan 
of Canaan, &c.? The absurdity of sucha conclusion i 
apparent. It would be entirely foreign to the argu- 
ment, which was designed to convince his readers, that 
justification is secured, not by obedience to the law, 
but by faith. It shows that Abraham was justified b 
fith and that all, who have like precious faith with ~ 
him, inherit the same blessing. Hence justification by 
- faith is that “ blessing of Abraham,” whi 
on the Gentile believers, through the redem} 
Christ. ius 
‘« Know ye therefore, that they which are of fait 
the same are the children of Abraham. And the Ser 
ture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen 
through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abra- 
ham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. So 
then they which be of faith, (all believers, Jews and — 
Gentiles,) are blessed with faithful Abraham.”—Gal. 
iii: 7—9. ‘The language of the Abrahamic covenant, 
not less than that, which the apostles preached, incul- 4 
cates the doctrine,—* By grace are ye saved through ~ 
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. 4 
Not of works lest any man should boast.” 5. dai coast 
4. The Scriptures clearly assert, that these cov 
nants are the same. Several of these passages have 
already been introduced. “Know ye, 
that they which are of faith,” that. is, 


Me 


CRN ee ES FEM a ers. mig ie oo 

ie) —% > \ = —z ~ + - 

ee Rcwgar  ae ye a y See h 
pests. ot ee amare ois 

aera | Cnet , 


pS SCHRISTIAN BAPTISM = 7, 


_ the same are the children of Abraham.” Here it is 
| ~ asserted, that Gentile converts are a part of that spirit- 
| ual seed, promised to Abraham in the coyenant. “Jf 
_ ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs ac- 
_ cording to the promise.” —Gal. iii: 29. What stronger 
=” proof can we need, than this declaration, that the cov- ee 
oe enant promise, made to Abraham, extends to all the 
_ disciples of Christ? In the same chapter, itis express- 
ly asserted that the covenant was not abolished with 
the Levitical law, verse 14; but is now in force. On 
the ground of their covenant relation to him, he is : 
_ denominated “the heir of the world,” “the father of 
_ all them that believe,’ circumcised or uncircumcised ey 
“ the father of us all,” referring directly to the covenant 
promise—‘‘I have made thee a father of many nations.— 
Rom. iv: 11, 16,17. But the New Testament abounds — rhe 
with allusions of the same import to “the ever memo- __ 
rable charter of all the blessings which Jewish and 
Gentile believers enjoy through Christ.—See Luke i: 
67—75; Acts iii: 25; Heb. vi: 13—18. How could 
_ the apostle apply this latter passage for the consolation 
q of Christians, in his day and in all subsequent time, 


unless the oath, which ratified the covenant, extend to 

them, and the covenant itself embrace them? 

_ But, as my limits forbid me to enlarge, I will refer 

_ you to only one other passage, which I consider deci- 

» sive. Rom. xi: The apostle enquires,—“ Hath God 

_ Castaway his people?” By no means; “for I also am 

an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham,” &c. “Even so 

then, at this present time, there is a remnant, according 

to the election of grace.” He represents that the great 

body of the Jews had forfeited their place in the church 

of God by unbelief, and that the Gentiles were receiv- 

_ ed in their stead. And he most happily illustrates his 

3 subject by the figure of the olive tree. The Jewish 

_ church, which, before the introduction of the Gospel 
dispensation, was the only church, is represented by 
the good olive tree, and the idolatrous Gentile world, 
by the wild olive tree. “If,” says he, verse 17, ‘‘ some 
of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild 
olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and wiTH THEM 

_ partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; boast 

_ hot against the branches: but, if thou boast, thou bearest Rs ch 

_ not the root, but the root thee.’ Here, laying aside 

; 4 ste 


the figure, we are explicitly taught, that the” 
converts are united to the same chureh, wl for 
nearly two thousand years, had existed among the nat- 
ural seed of Abraham. Many of its natural members 
had been cut off for their unbelief, and those, who had ~ 
no natural title by descent, were, in consequence of 
their faith, united ; not to form a new church, but to re-— 
_ plenish the old church. United to the remnant of the © 
Jewish members, before alluded to, they constituted 
but one church, enjoying all the privileges and imherit- 
ing the blessings, secured, by the everlasting covenant, 
to the spiritual seed of Abraham. ‘Thou bearest not ~ 


the root, but the root thee.” ‘These Gentile believers — 


were neither the root, nor the trunk; but only Mons “i 
taken from the wild olive and grafted into the good” 
olive tree. Hence the apostle adds, verse 24,—“ For, 
if thou wert cut out of the olive tree, which is wild b 
nature, and wert grafted, contrary to nature, intoa 
good olive tree; how much more shall these, which be 
the natural branches, be gathered into their own olive — 
tree.” Does he not here teach us, that the Jews, when ~ 
the veil of prejudice shall be rent and the heart of un- 
belief removed, and they shall be gathered from their 
dispersions into the kingdom of Christ, will be restored 
to the same church from which their fathers were cut ~ 
off? But, no one believes, that any other church will ~ 
exist, under the present dispensation, except the ~ 
Christian church. Who then, will ask for additional 
evidence, that the Jewish and Christian church are one. 
Somewhat differently modified they may be; but or- 
ganized under the same ‘“‘ grand charter,” and essen- 
tially one. If it is not so, the apostle’s argument falls 23 
to the ground, and his beautiful illustration has no ~ 
meaning. . se 
I am not ignorant, that those who wish to avoid the ~ 
unanswerable argument, which the identity of the ~ 
church under the two dispensations, if proved, affords — 
in support. of infant baptism, and the perfect conclu- 
siveness of the apostle’s illustration, if the above inter- ~ 
pretration is correct ; endeavor to free themselves from — 
the difficulty, by asserting that the good olive tree does ~ 
not represent the church, but Christ. The reply to © 
this suggestion is short and easily understood. in 
Do those, who suggest this subterfuge, believe in the 


Pea 


we 


Cet, eo ime 


) And will they tell us, at the same time, as they must, 
| to carry out their interpretation; that true believers, eee 
after being united to Christ, are broken off by unbe- 
© Nief? If Christ is the good olive tree, what is the wild 


oe 


CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. Sere om 


a. 


| perseverance of the saints, in the unchangeable love of 
Christ to his disciples? They profess thus to believe. ~ 


olive tree? These questions may be evaded; but they 
never haye been answered. ca 
We have now examined the covenant made with 
Abraham and that made with believers under the Gos- 
pel dispensation ; and what is the result? They prom-_ 
ise the same spiritual blessings; the condition of the 
promises and of the forfeiture is the same; they are 
both covenants of mere grace: And the Scriptures 
clearly teach, that they are one covenant, and the 
church under the old dispensation and the new, one 
and the same church. The latter is only a continua- 
tion of the former. Hence it was predicted, that 
Christ, at his coming, shall ‘“ purge his floor,” not de- 
stroy it. See the whole subject illustrated in the 
transactions of that memorable night, when Christ, 
with his little band of disciples, sat down, as members 
of the old church, to celebrate the passover. Was there 
a new church organized on that occasion, or a mere 
change of the external ordinance? The same church 
evidently partook of the passover and of the Lord’s 


_ Supper; and we never hear of a subsequent organiza- 


tion. We read, that on the day of Pentecost three 
thousand were added to the church. What church? 
Trace back and you will find the church, to which 
Christ and his apostles, John the Baptist, Zacharias and 
Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna belonged. 

It remains now to-be shown, that the seals of the 
covenant, though different in form, are of the same im- 


cumcision, the seal of the covenant, made with believ- 


; port. The seal of the Abrahamic covenant was cir- 


_ unable to perceive the correctness of this conclusion, —__ 


_ ers under the new dispensation, is baptism. The ar- 


f 


gument, to prove that they have the same meaning is 
short but decisive. ‘The covenant under each dispen- 7 
sation being the same, the promised blessings the same, 
and the conditions the same, as we have seen, the seal, _ 
whatever the form or the manner of the application, __ 
must have the same significancy. Should any one be ~ 


<u 
i 
Ge 


all. Has God given any intimations or instructions in 


CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


“let him turn to the Scriptures. We a 


of an inward change of heart, produced by the opera- — 
tion of the Holy Spirit, of which faith is eer the @ 
recious fruits. Bidet). ae | 

All will admit, that baptism is also a seal of the righ- — 
teousness of faith and a beautiful emblem of thatinter- 
nal purification, which results from a change of heart. 
So the apostle represents: Gal. iii: 26, 27—“*Bor ye — 
are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. ~ 
For as many as have been baptized into Christ have 
put on Christ. And if ye be Christ's, THEN are ye 
Abraham’s seed and heirs, according to the promise.” — 
Baptism comes in the place of circumcision, sealing, to 
the heirs of salvation, the same covenant promises and 
blessings. How then can we avoid the conclusion, that — 
the seal of the covenant should be applied to the same — 
subjects under each dispensation ? 

Look at the case, as it now appears. God made a 
covenant with Abraham, affixed to it a given seal and 
required that it should be applied to him and tothe 
male part of his household, (they only bemg capable ~ 
of receiving it.) But God continues the same covenant — 
with believers, under the present dispensation, and af- 
fixes his seal, changed only in its form, but precisely of — 
the same nature and significancy. Would not any un- ~ 
prejudiced mind conclude, without hesitation, that the — 
seal is to be applied to the same subjects; viz. to the ~ 
believer and his household? No conclusion can be 
more fairly drawn. 

Here the subject should forever rest, unless it can be — 
clearly shown, that the law requiring the seal of the ~ 
covenant to be applied to children, has been repealed. ~ 


Will any one presume to make this change, without x 
; 


express authority, from a covenant God? But where 
is the express command or prohibition, which cuts off 

the children of believers from the promise and forbids ~ 
the original application of the seal of the covenant? 
Not, surely, in the Bible. This will be admitted by ~ 


ca | 
mae ¢ + 


ine New Testament, from which it can be clearly in- 
erred, that infants ought not to be baptized ? 
On this subject the Baptists affirm and we deny. 


understand this commission? ‘They were Jews and 
doubtless understood what was to be the prescribed 
method of introducing members into the visible church 
of Christ. With the method of receiving members 
into the Jewish church by baptism, they were well 


admitted, were baptized ; not adults only, but the child- 
ren.* Saptizing infants, on the faith of their parents, 
was @ practice which had long prevailed and with which 
the apostles were familiar. Would they not, then, 
understand this broad commission of their Saviour, as 
requiring them to baptize according to the custom then 
prevailing, unless more definite instructions were giv- 
en? But how did they understand their commission ? 
Weare informed, that they baptized believers and their 
households ; the latter, not on their own faith, but on 
the faith of the parent or head of the family. Thus it 
» is said of Lydia, Acts xvi: 14, 15,—‘* Whose heart the 
Lord opened, that she attended unto the things, which 
"were spoken by Paul. And when she was baptized, 
and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have 
judged me to be faithful to the Lord come into my 
house.” Here is no intimation, that any of her family 


- ar 
<7 ee 


“To the law and to the testimony” let us appeal. 
_ Christ says to his apostles—‘‘Go ye and disciple all 
_ ations, baptizing them,” &c. How would the apostles 


SCHRISTIAN BAPTISM. oS. Og be 


acquainted. We have abundant proof from history, — 
that proselytes to the Jewish religion, when they were _ 


believed, except herself. The contrary is implied in 


the words—‘ if ye have judged me, (not us,) faithful.” 
_ But, her household were baptized evidently on the 
4 ground of her faith. 
a In the same chapter, we have another case of house- 
hold baptism. It is that of the Jailor. ‘“ And was bap- 
tized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had 
brought them into his house, he set meat before them, 
and rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house.” It 
may be thought the last clause teaches, that “all his 
house” were believers; but in the original, rejoiced 
and believing are both in the singular number, and 


a 


* Dr. Pond’s Treatise, Wall, page 25 and 26. of 


30. CHRISTIAN BAPTISMIN 
See eB 


according to the grammatical constructio 
to the Jailor. . He, believing, rejoiced in ¢ 
his house. In 1 Cor. i: 16, the apostle say: 
tized also the household of Stephanas,” ‘T 
ples clearly show how the apostles unde 
commission. And on the subject of house 
T would suggest the enquiry,—Can an - 
found, recorded in the New Testament, whe 
cumstances show, that the baptized person he 
and that they were present at the time, im whicl 
_ tis was not administered to the family? If 
example can be produced, as I am confident t 
not, then we are justified in the assertion, that 
iles uniformly baptized households. kee 
But it may be asked, how do we know that 
were any children in the family of the Jailor, of Lydi 
&c.? We are not concerned to know, while the 
tory teaches us that Lydia’s household was baptizec 
on the ground of her faith ; that she and the Jailor were 
the only believers. ‘The apostle speaks of these cases, 
as he would of an example of circumcision, or prose- 
lyte baptism, and leaves us to draw our own inference, 
respecting the age and circumstances of those, who 
constitute the family. If any one feels troubled by - ~ 
these examples and thinks it important to prove, that — 
_ these families had no children in them, let him do it, if — 
he can find evidence. But, we are willing to under- — 
stand the term household in its usual signification. The 
Bible was written for general use, and its language is ; 
to be interpreted, according to its usual acceptation, 
unless another meaning is distinctly indicated by the — 
connection. How would a Jew understand this history — 
of household baptism? Would he have any doubt that 
the children were baptized, and baptized on the faith 
of the parent? Is there any explanatory clause thrown 
in, any circumstance related, to create a doubt? Not 
one. Was not the New Testament written for Jews, 
as well as Gentiles? Suppose there were four adults — 
in Lydia’s house, would a Baptist minister report them Ee 
in this manner? Would he not name the individuals, 
or at least tell us just how many he baptized? = = 
Again.—lIf it was not the uniform practice of the ~ 
apostles to baptize households, when the circumstances — 
_ would permit, why do we not hear the Jewish conyerts © 


vee 


a 


ey 


—— j Re the ’ 2 . 
omplaining of an innovation, which deprived their 
children of a highly valuable privilege? Why did not 
the enemies of Christianity bring this up as an objec- 
tion, to prejudice the Jews against the Gospel? Their 


of the Christian church, were debarred a privilege, 
which was enjoyed, and regarded with strong attach- 
ment, by the members of the ancient church. 


husband is sanetified by the wife, and the unbelieving 
wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your 


that which may not be offered to God; holy, as used in 


that which may be offered to God ;” as was the first 
born, the temple, the vessels of the sanctuary, &e. 
This question seems to have been submitted to the 
apostles for their advice. If only one of the parents is 
a believer, and the other a heathen, can the children 
be devoted to God and receive the seal of his cove- 
nant? They decide, that the unbelieving parent is so 
far sanctified, by her connection with the believing 
parent, that the children are “holy ;” that is, proper 
subjects to be consecrated to God. Who, then, will 
_ forbid them to receive the seal of his everlasting cove- 
‘: nant? But we have nothing more decisive on this 
subject, than the declaration, that Abraham is “ the fath- 
_ er of usall,” and believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, 
» hisseed. If we are his children, may we not claim 
the privileges, secured to all his spiritual seed ? 
. Having examined the history of the apostolic age, I 
_ will now direct your attention to the history of the 
church for several centuries after that period. Here 
5 


we shall find no contradictory testimony ; but every 
witness testifying to the same facts. There is evidence 
abundant, that the early fathers considered baptism, as 
taking the place of circumcision. But, as this will be 
made to appear, when we introduce their testimony to 
the principal subject, I shall not bring them forward 
on this. 

‘““Among the immediate successors of the apostles, 
there were but few writers, whose works have come 
down to us with unquestioned authority : and in these 


See CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. <oue © | of@m 


In 1 Corvii: 14, we read,—‘ For the unbelieving — 


children unclean, but now are they holy.” ‘The werd — 
unclean, as used in the Scriptures, generally denotes ~ 


this passage, is the opposite of unclean, and denotes — 


S 


aa 
silence on the subject is unaccountable, if the children — 


30 > i CHRISTIAN BAPTISM: 
the baptism of infants is rather alluded t 
as an existing and approved practice, tha 
culcated.” eS Me , 
Justin Martyn, who wrote about forty years after 
the apostolic age, says—“ There are many amone us of 
both sexes, some sixty and some seven r 
who were made disciples of Christ from 
hood.” They must have been made d 
before the death of John. The same ter 
in the apostolic commission. ‘ Go ye a 
ples of all nations, baptizing,” &c¢.—Matt. xy 
‘This ancient father, also, speaks decidedly of the 
that baptism was received as a substitute for cir 
cision. mee 
Ireneus was born before the death of Jok 
educated by Polycarp, the friend of that ven 
apostle. He says,—‘ Christ came to save all p 
who by him are baptized unto God, infants and Th tl 
ones and cnildren and youth, and elder persons.” 4 
Origen, of the second century, says,—* The church 
received a tradition from the apostles to give baptism even 
to infants.” ‘Tertullian and Ambrose confirm this tes- 
timony. It is true, that Tertullian advised the delay — 
of infant baptism ; while he admits, that the practice of _ 
baptizing them was derived from the apostles; and was a 
sanctioned by Christ, when he took little children into 
his arms and blessed them, &c. He carried his yiews _ 
to such an extent, as to advise that baptism should be 
delayed to the last hours of life ; so that the soul, being» 
once cleansed by the water of regeneration, might 
never after contract pollution. He ‘‘is the only writer 
for more than three hundred years, next after the apos- 
tolic age, who went so far as to advise parents to delay — 
the baptism of their children, for any reason whatever.” | 
How much his advice was regarded by the primitive — 
church we shall see in the sequel. ee” 
Cyprian was born of Pagan parents about A. D. 200; — 
and died a martyr A. D. 258. He was a member of a ~ 
council, held in Carthage, of sixty-six bishops, to whom — 
the question was submitted, Whether it was proper to 
baptize infants before they were eight days old. This 
council decided unanimously, that it was not necessary 
to delay even eight days. Here we see that no ques- 
tion was made, respecting the propriety of baptizing 


LAG 


fact, 


"ers, was born in 354, and died in 430. In reply to the 


on are 


infants; this being admitted, by Fidus, who asked ad- __ 
vice, and by the council. advising: and, that baptism _ 
was understood to take the place of circumcision. Ter- 
tullian’s opinion, though it must have been known, was 
not considered worthy of consideration. 

Augustine, one of the most distinguished of the fath- 


question—W hat authority have we for infant baptism? 
he says,—“ that which the whole church holds, which was 
not instituted by councils, but was always maintained, — 
is with the best reason believed to have been transmit- 
ted to us by apostolic authority ; besides from the cir-— 
cumcision, which was practised in the ancient church, 
we may truly learn the importance of the baptism of 
infants.” He also states,—“‘ that he never heard of any 
person, either in the church or among the heretics, who oe 
denied the propriety of baptizing infants.” : ae 
Pelagius, who was contemporary with Augustine, 
had a controversy with him on the doctrine of original 
sin; and, though the denial of infant baptism would 
have favored his argument, he declares, “that he had — 
never heard even any impious heretic, who asserted 
that infants are not to be baptized.” Again, he asks, 
“Who can be so impious as to hinder the baptism of 
infants?’ Pelagius is an important witness in this 
case. Augustine pressed him constantly with the ques- 
tion,—“‘Why are infants baptized for the remission of 
sins, if they have none?” How easy to silence this ar- 
gument by denying the fact of infant baptism, if he 
could do it. Instead of this he admits and asserts very 


positively, that the practice was universal. He had 


travelled in England, france, Italy, Africa, and Pales- 
tine, and he must have been well acquainted with the 
Opinions and practices of the churches. ) 
Many other witnesses might be introduced; but 
these must suffice. You will observe, that this testi- sen 
mony relates to the first four centuries of the Christian __ 
era, the period when infant baptism must have been 
introduced, if it was an innovation upon apostolic prac- 
tice. For it is now confessed by the ablest writers  _ 
among the Baptists, that we have no evidence from au- 
thentic history, of any society of Christians, who did not _ 
practise infant baptism from the fourth century to thee 
twelfth. The argument from history is this. During 


ae 


_ authenticated history. 


: ae te vear | 120. ‘: T hey reje 


bys... Nhe Met 


 ieal facts lend their whole influen e 
household baptism is apostolic. 


make it. If, as we have shown, baptism ta 


‘whether Jews or Gentiles. We need not the renewal — 


demand? Do they found all their usages OF 


fament command? Do we not establish the propriety — 


the first four hundred years, neither 
nor any individual denied the lawt 
infants. ‘Tertullian only urged som 
not in every case. During the n 
years, there was not a society nor 

either advised to delay, or denied the ri 
baptism. In all this period, if it did not 
the apostles, no trace of its origin can be 


The first information we have of — 


generally as heretical, and soon cam 
that time, infant baptism found no 0 
when the sect arose again, in Germa 


But it is said, we have no express 
tize infants. We reply, that if the Bible 
whole, we have the command, explicit as lan \. 

the | 
place of circumcision, the command given to Abraham, — 
requiring him to place the seal of the covenant on his 
household, is binding upon all the children of Abraham, 


of the command, and it is not the usage of im 
to repeat precepts in the New Testament, w 
to positive institutions previously establishe 
ly does not belong to us, but to those, wh 
the good old way, to produce a ‘thus sai 
in justification of their practice. The 
give us a command, or what is equivaler 
priving infants of their covenant privileg 
feel ourselves bound to receive the coven 
to its original design, and place the seal on o 

But are our Baptist friends consistent in m 


ae 
¥ 


command, and especially: a command from Christ or 
apostles, as they require in this case? Why, then, 
they observe the Sabbath? Why the first 
seventh day of the week? Why do they ad 
to the Lord’s Supper? &c. Is not the prece 
member the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” an Old Tes 


* 


"of changing the day, and of admitting females to the 
communion, by tracing back the history of the church 
to the apostolie age? and is the history on these sub- 
jects more complete, more uniform, than on that of in- 
fant baptism? If our witnesses are competent on one 
subject, why not on another? 
_ Again it is said, children cannot comply with the 
terms, and, therefore, they are not fit subjects for eg: 
tism. ‘The directions are,—‘‘ Repent and be baptized.” 
‘* He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved.” But 
children are net capable of repentance and faith, and 
therefore they must not be baptized. . 

Does not this prove too much? Repentance and 
faith are indispensable terms of salvation. Must all in- 
fants be lost, because they cannot repent and believe? 
This, we trust, will not be admitted by those who hear 
the kind Saviour saying,—‘‘ Of such is the kingdom of 
heaven.” We need not stop to inquire, what is intended 
by the kingdom of heaven. If Christ refers to the state 
of glory and infants are heirs to that heavenly inheri- 
tance, they surely may have their names enrolled 
among the citizens of Zion on earth; or if they belong 
to the fold of Christ on earth, either as his sheep or as 
lambs of the flock, who has a right to forbid them the 
distinctive mark? He calls them his and they should 
be sealed with his seal. 

It is often asked, with strong emphasis, of what ben- 
efit can this ordinance be te children? The language 
of contempt, even by Christian ministers, is sometimes 
used in reference to sprinkling the face of the uncon- 
scious infant with water. May we not answer, in the 
language of an apostle ?—“ Nay, but O man, who art 
thou that repliest against God!” Do not our Christian 
friends see, that if their question has any force, they 
charge God with foolishness, in requiring Abraham to 
apply the bloody seal of the covenant to his children ? 
‘Has not the question just as much force in one case as 
the other? Admit that we, creatures of yesterday, can 
see no advantage to result from it; shall we doubt the 
wisdom of Him, who made the appointment? The 
first question, with us, should not be,—‘ What profit is 
there in circumcision,’ or baptism; but what saith the 
Lord? It is enough with the Christian, to silence ev 
ery objection, that ‘‘ thus it is written.” 

The impartial enquirer, however, will be at no loss 


‘ff ee _ae a, 
— cumsnias BAPTISM. e 35 


he 


to bring up their children in the nurture an 
of the Lord, no meaning, no important b 
spiritual welfare of the children? Is it 
in the mind of a pious parent, to bring k 
a covenant relation to God, and int 
the church as to secure for them her « 
feel that, in placing the seal of the cove 
children, we are performing a duty ri 
Good Shepherd. Is there not as much 
ing the will of Christ, in this case as in 
have neither time nor space to enlarge ; 
only observe, that a faithful history of God 
dealings with the church, would answer these 
to the entire satisfaction of every friend fo 
would show, that Jehovah has special regard to his cov- 
‘enant ; and that parents, who embrace the promise of © 
the covenant and in faith dedicate their children to him, — 
do not embrace a shadow, but blessings of infinite value. _ 
It would show, that a vast majority of the subjects of q 
God’s renewing grace, have been those, who were ded- 
icated to him and impressed with the seal of his coye- 
nant in childhood.* Probably I might add that, could © 
the facts be ascertained, it would appear that every pa- — 
rent, who uprightly entered into covenant with God for © 
himself and his children, has found this covenant as rich © 
with spiritual blessings for them, as for his own soul. 
Let no Christian parent, then, who can enjoy this” 
privilege, neglect it. Whatever may be the fact in re- | 
gard to children, whose parents have no covenant right, 
if through mere negligence, or a more blameable cause, 
we give not up our children to God in the way of his 
appointment, we have no reason to expect his blessing. 
He isa faithful, covenant-keeping God. He claims the 
children of believers as his own. He offers to seal them 
with his own seal, and baptize them with that Ho. 
Spirit of promise, which will constitute them heirs of 
salvation. What Christian parent can forbid them to 
come, or neglect to bring them, without forfeiting t 
blessings of the everlasting covenant. : 


ia 


ay bel = 


“Let our Baptist brethren make enquiry on this subject in their own 
churches, and they will be surprised at the result. an 


BY 


J. P, STIREWALT, A. M., 


» EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN PASTOR, 
- AUTHOR oF SERMON ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY, AND PUBLISHER 
le ; OF GRADES IN THE MINISTRY. 


NE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM.—Eph. 4, 5. 


rat 


“ae 


HENKEL & CO.’S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE, 
_ OFFICE OF OUR CHURCH PAPER, SHENANDOAH VALLEY, &C, 


NEW MARKET, SHENANDOAH CO., VIRGINIA. 


—a 


“WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE 
ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM.” 


BY 


J. P. STIREWALT, A. M., 


EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN PASTOR, 
AUTHOR OF SERMON ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY, AND PUBLISHER 
OF GRADES IN THE MINISTRY. 


“ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM.’—Eph. 4, 5. 


HENKEL & CO.’S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE, 
OFFICE OF OUR CHURCH PAPER, SHENANDOAH VALLEY, &C. 
NEW MARKET, SHENANDOAH CO., VIRGINIA. 


1897. 


i —— 


tt r 2764. 


PREFACE. 


The articles composing this pamphlet have been prepared at the 
urgent request of brethren in the faith who desire to know the truth 
in love. The first, second, and third articles were published in Our 
Church Paper, July to, July 24, and August 7, 1895, respectively, 
whilst the fourth article has beem prepared especially for this pam- 
phlet. In the preparation and publication of these articles, the au- 
thor entertains very kind feelings toward all men. He is decidedly 
of the opinion that all these statements are reasonable, right, and 
scriptural. So far as he knows, his arguments to this day remain 
unanswered. 

It is the author’s earnest desire and sincere prayer that many per- 
sons will read this pamphlet, and that all who read it will be instruct- 
ed and edified and that God’s name may be glorified. 

J. P. STIREWALT. 


NEw MarKgs&T, VA., JUNE 21, 1897. 


76 


‘i 


arhay 


“WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDI- 
NANCE OF BAPTISM.” 


ARTICLE I. 


This is the head of an article in The Gospel Messenger, a 
paper published by the Tunkers, at Mt. Morris, Ills. The 
article referred to is in its issue of June rr, 1895. Whatever 
may be the intention of the authors of such articles, the arti- 
cles in themselves are deceptive and misleading. They de- 
ceive the very persons for whom they are written, because 
they set forth a custom that Luther never practiced, and 
they are misleading, because all can not have access to 
Luther’s own writings, and therefore can not determine for 
themselves on the subject under consideration. The article 
referred to makes Luther an immersionist, and professes to 
quote from the ‘“‘Smalcald Articles drawn up by himself,’’ 
as given in ‘‘Ingham’s Hand-book of Baptism, p. 89.’’ 

We are not familiar with ‘‘Ingham, nor his Hand-book,’’ 
nor would we be willing to accept it as evidence on this 
subject if the quotations from it as given by the Messenger 
are fair specimens of its contents. Here along beside of the 
correct translation of the fifth article of Smalcald, comes 
the incorrect translation of the same article as given by the 
Messenger. 

Book of Concord, p. 299, 

First Edition. 

“Baptism is nothing else but 
the Word of God connected with 
water.’ 

We like to see quotations from Luther and the Lutheran 
church in print when they are correctly made. When this 
is done the Lutheran doctrine on any subject will always 
stand the test. Lutheranism, 

“Tf with heavenly truth attired, 
Needs only to be seen to be admired.”’ 

The difference between the correct and the incorrect trans- 
lation of the Fifth Article as here referred to is too plain to 
admit of any explanation or illustration. Let us therefore 
pass on to the next quotation as given by the Messenger. It 
reads as follows: 


“What Luther said about Scriptural subjects forbaptism: ‘It can- 
not be proved by sacred Scriptures that infant baptism was instituted 
by Christ.’ (A. R.’s Vanity of Infant Baptism, part 2, p. 8. Ing- 
ham’s Subject of Baptism, p. 402.)’’ 


Messenger. 
‘Baptism is nothing else than 
the Word of God with immersion 
in water.’’ 


4 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 
ee  — 

In answer to this quotation we state first the author of 
the article in the Messenger fails to tell us when or where 
Luther made this statement. We will not accept it as true 
until we are informed where it stands written in Luther’s 
own writings, not Ingham’s writings. We prefer to quote 
correctly from the Smalcald Articles, and these the WZessen- 
ger acknowledges were drawn up by Luther himself. In 
the latter part of the Fifth Article, Luther says: ‘‘Concern- 
ing infant baptism we hold that children should be baptized ; 
for they also belong to the promised redemption effected 
through Christ; and the church shall administer it to them.” 
(Book of Concord, page 299.) 

Can anything be more plain or explicit? The like 
abounds in Luther’s writings. Hear what Luther himself 
says in “‘A Letter on Anabaptism, to two clergymen, writ- 
ten A. D. 1528,’’ and comprised in ‘‘Luther on the Sacra- 
ments,’’ pp. 99, 100: ‘‘Baptism is a work of God, which no 
man has devised, but God has commanded and _ testified it 
in the Gospel. . . . . . andail the world knows and sees 
that we baptize every one while yet a child.’ 

But, the Messenger says that Luther said : 

“It cannot be proved by sacred Scripture that infant baptism was 
instituted by Christ.’’ 

We reply by asking several questions. Can it be proven 
by sacred Scripture that the baptism of men and women 
was instituted by Christ? If it can, where is the Scripture 
proof in so many words that men and women must be bap- 
tized? Luther taught uniformly, that when Christ insti- 
tuted baptism, he designed it to be a baptism for ‘‘all na- 
tions.’’ ‘‘Children,’’ said he, ‘constitute a large portion of 
any zation.’’ (Luther on Sacraments, p. 109.) We, there- 
fore, affirm that Christ instituted baptism for infants as well 
as for adults. The words of the institution we find in Matt. 
28,-19, where Christ says, ‘‘Go ye therefore, and teach’’ 
(make disciples of) ‘‘all nations, baptizing them in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’’ 
That idea, or doctrine, or practice is as really in harmony 
with sacred Scripture, which is by sound principle, just 
reasoning, and necessary consequence deduced from the 
Word of God, as that which is explicitly stated in so many 
words. For example, the New Testament says: ‘“There is 
but one God.’’ 1 Cor. 8, 6. This language ‘‘means just 
as much that the gods of the heathen are false, as if it were 
said in so many words.’’ So in regard to baptism. When 


WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 5 


Christ instituted baptism and commanded his disciples to 
make disciples of-‘‘all nations’’ by baptizing them he insti- 
tuted and commanded it with just as much if not more ref- 
erence to infants as to men and women. ‘The contrary doc- 
trine never has been established. It never will be. All 
this is Lutheran. But again, ‘‘When Jesus says, ‘That 
which is born of the flesh is flesh,’ and ‘Except a man be 
born again of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into 
the kingdom of God,’”’ he teaches that infants, inasmuch 
as-they are flesh, must be born again of water and of the 
Spirit, that is, must be baptized and become regenerate. 
(Krauth’s Conservative Reformation, p. 576.) This too is 
Lutheran. It is according to the ‘‘sacred Scriptures.”’ 

Let the reader of this article consider one other argument. 
In Acts 2, 38, 39: Peter, full of the Holy Ghost, said: 
“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of 


_Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive 


the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, 
and to your children, and to ali that are afar off, even as 
many as the Lord our God shall call.’’ 

I. St. Peter speaks these words to the Jews and evidently 
includes the Gentiles. The command is imperative. It is 
in its plural form: Repent ye—the promise is to you—your 
children, and all that are afar off evenas many as God 
shall call. 

2. He enjoins upon his hearers the command that is di- 
vine. It isthe Lord’s. ‘‘Be baptized every one of you.’’ 
Having expressed clearly the duty of the adults, he declares 
further the will and purpose of God, that ‘‘every one’’ pres- 
ent on that occasion, in addition to the adults, should be 
baptized. 

3. This argument of the Apostle is from God. It is there- 
fore beyond successful contradiction ; ‘‘For the promise is 
to you and your children.’’ Now see the conclusion of the 
Apostle’s argument. When God’s command and God’s 
promise are connected with God’s institution, such for ex- 
ample, as Holy Baptism, it is surely safe to conclude that 
‘‘all those included in the command, and expressed in the 
promise, have a positive right to that institution.’’ The 
divine command here is, ‘‘Be baptized every one of you.”’ 
The promise here recorded is ‘‘unto you and your children.’’ 
Therefore we again conclude that Christ instituted baptism 
for infants as well as for adults, and that both ‘‘have an in- 
alienable right to Christian Baptism.’’ 


a 


6 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 


4. The command here given, the promise here recorded, 
and the privilege here extended was not confined to the 
men, women, and children composing the Jewish nation. It 
is, in God’s own arrangement, intended and extended to the 
Gentile world, to us, therefore, and ‘‘even to all that are 
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”’ 

In the Lutheran system we argue the institution of bap- 
tism by Christ for infants as well as for adults from ‘‘the 
practice of the Apostles for the first thirty years of the 
Christian church.’’ We have explicit information that the 
Apostles baptized ‘‘households”’; i. e., entire families.— 
Acts 10, 2, &c.; Acts 16, 14, 15; Acts 16, 31, 33; 1 Cor. 
1, 16. Is it reasonable to conclude that there were no chil- 
dren in the four families referred to in these Scriptures? 
When the ‘‘sacred Scriptures’’ teach us that the Apostles 
baptized ‘‘ households’’ what is meant, if they did not bap- 
tize the children of those families as well as the adults of 
those families? The conclusion is both irresistible and 
irrefutable. And if the Apostles baptized the children in 
those ‘‘ households” did they receive that authority from 
Christ or not? And did Christ institute the baptism that the 
Apostles used in baptizing those children or not? or did 
they have one baptism for infants and another for adults? 
And now, in the Lutheran church, according to the teach- 
ing of Luther, we gladly, in harmony with the institution 
of baptism by Christ, administer Christian baptism to 
‘‘ households,’’ after the teaching and practice of the Apos- 
tles of our Lord. The Tunkers never do practice “‘house- 
hold’’ baptism? Which now of the two are the orthodox 
followers of our divine Lord and Master in heaven? Reader, 
pause, ponder, and then decide and act accordingly. 

Now let Luther speak for himself again. He says: “‘So 
far, in my estimation, we have proved forcibly enough, that 
the Anabaptists do, wrong by invalidating infant baptism, 


were they even certain that children are baptized without — 


faith,—a proposition, however, which they can not prove. 

Bersie ecegrecety . Yet we are persuaded by many strong 
reasons, that infant baptism is right, and that they believe. 
First, because infant baptism has descended from the Apostles, 
and the practice has continued ever since the Apostolic age, we 
should not abolish it, but allow it thus to be observed, since no 
one has yet been able to prove that children do not believe when 
they are baptized, or that this kind of baptism ts wrong.” 
(Luther on the Sacraments, pp. 122 and 123.) 


WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 7 


Again Luther says: ‘‘ Now, if infant baptism were wrong, 
God undoubtedly would not have suffered it to continue so 
long, or to be so universally observed throughout the whole 
Christian community; nor could it have escaped from being 

at last brought into disrepute beforeall men. For although 
the Anabaptists now defame it, yet their attempts are in- 
effectual, and it is not yet brought into disgrace.’’ (On the 
Sacraments, pp. 124, 125.) 

Again Luther wrote in 1528: ‘‘ Fourthly, if the first or 
infant baptism were wrong, it would follow that for more 
than a thousand years there was no baptism, no Christian 
church ; which is not possible. For, if so, the following 
article of the creed would be false: ‘‘I believe in a holy 
Christian church.’’ For during more than a thousand years, 
infant-baptism was almost exclusively practiced. Now, if this 
baptisni is wrong, the Christian church was without baptism 
for that length of time. If she was destitute of baptism, she 
was not the Christian church; for the Christian church zs 
the bride of Christ, subject and obedient to him, possessing his 
spirit, his word, his baptism, his eucharist, and all that he 
possesses.’’ (On the Sacraments, p. 127.) 

Luther here speaks of infant baptism. He says it is 
Christ’s. What then becomes of the statement in the ‘‘Mes- 
senger”’ of June 11? © 

Hear Luther once more. He says: ‘‘ Again, the facts, 
that Christ commands little children to come and be brought 
unto him, Matt. 19, 14, saying, ‘Of such is the kingdom of 
God ;’ that the Apostles baptized whole households, Acts 
16, 15; 1 Cor. 1, 16; that John writes to little children, 1 
John 2, 18; that St. John in his mother’s womb believed, 
Luke 1, 41, as we have stated above, all go to establish our 
position.’’ (On the Sacraments, pp. 127, 128.) 

Let the reader of this article consider Luther’s opinion of 
Anabaptists. His own language on this point is clear. He 
says: ‘‘ Now, such are our infamous factions of Anabaptists, 
servants of the devil, who are perpetually running about 
the country and preaching against us, with exalted intellect 
representing us and all Christians as wicked, contending 
that we are grossly ignorant, and that we intend by means 
of water to be saved. And they are indeed very learned 
masters, and exceedingly eminent spirits, who teach us this 
original, this lofty science, that water is water. Who could 
have known or thought of such a thing, if those most lumi- 
nous doctors had not come, unless he had inquired from a 


8 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 


child seven years old, or gone to school a session with 
oxen or cows, or to swimming with the swine? Yet they 
are such blockheads and dolts, as to allege nothing? else 
against us but, ‘water is water,’ and then they advance their 
dreamy, visionary fancies. And is it not surprising, since 
they pursue this matter so high, and so shamefully reject 
water baptism, that they do not observe their own doctrine, 
and abolish baptism entirely? For indeed they still bap- 
tize themselves and others over again, and contradict them- 
selves with every act. For if they suffer our baptism, for 
which we have the Word and command of God, to pass as 
nothing, their own baptism, which they themselves regard 
as mere water, must effect very little indeed.’» (Luther on 
the Sacraments, page 11.) 

But Luther continues on this point. He says: ‘Thus 
you perceive that the Anabaptists are blind, ignorant se- 
ducers, who understand nothing about the word and works 
of God, and doubly offend against holy baptism. In the 
first place, because they abuse and condemn true baptism by 
their doctrine; and in the second place, because they give 
no one any certain baptism, and therefore in reality have no 
baptism, but their baptism is indeed rather a deceptive affair. 
Now so heinous and inveterate are their sins, that they deny 
the true baptism, and thereby draw upon themselves a terri- 
ble condemnation, for they are willfully striving against the 
ordinance and work of God; and thus they rob themselves 
and others of this very baptism, and all the grace which is 
communicated by it.’’ (Luther on the Sacraments, p. 75.) 


ARTICLE II. 
WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 


In the Messenger of June 11th we have this language : 


““What Luther said about the meaning of the word éaptizo, speak- 
ing of the etymology of the word he said: ‘The Germans call bap- 
tism ¢auff, from a depth, which in their language they call ‘zeff, be- 
cause it is proper that those who are baptized be deeply immersed.” 
Sermon on Baptism, pp. 145,146. (Ingham’s Hand-book of Baptism, 
p. 89.) 

The reader of this pamphlet will note the fact that the J/es- 


senger quotes from Ingham’s Hand-book, and not from Lu- | 


ther’s writings direct. A hand-book is ‘‘a book of reference 
for the hand.’’ It is supposed to contain, not the originals 
of documents, but only extracts of them. All perhaps will 


WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 9 


admit that the original documents, and not extracts or 
translations thereof, are the proper source of appeal. Let 
us then see how this matter stands. But let the following 
quotation be considered. It clearly shows the correct use 
of the words éaftizo and faufe as used by Luther. 

‘“‘ Bapio Luther translates by ‘‘auchen and eintauchen,’ 
to dip, dip in; but healso translates by ‘ besprengen’ (Rev. 
19, 13,) to sprinkle: but according to this mode of reason- 
ing, éauchen and faufen both being equivalents, taufen is 
sprinkling, and baptism is sprinkling, and dipping is sprink- 
ling. By the way in which it is proved that /aw/e is immer- 
sion, may be proved that both /awfe and immersion are 
sprinkling: apiizo Luther never translated by tauchen, 
nor by any word which would be understood by the readers 
of his version to mean immersion. Whatever may be the 
etymology of Taufe, its actual use in the German language 
did not make it equivalent to immersion. Sprinkling 
(besprengen) or pouring (begiessen) were called taufe. If 
Luther believed that the acwa/ (not the primary or etymo- 
logical) force of the word made immersion necessary, he was 
bound before God_and the Church to use an unambiguous 
term. It is not true that ‘tauchen’ or ‘eintauchen’ had, 
either then or now, that very trifling and vulgar sense which, 
it is alleged, unfitted them over against ‘/aufen,’ to be used 
to designate immersion. Luther uses them in his Bible, 
and when in his Liturgies he means to designate immersion, 
these words are the very words he employs.’’ But again: 
“Luther used the ancient word fau/fen, because, in the fixed 
usage of the German, fawfen meant to baptize. Whatever 
may have been the etymology of it, we find its ecclesiastical 
use fixed before the ninth century. Otfried so uses it, A. 
D. 868. Eberhard and Maass, in their great Synonymik of 
the German, say: ‘After /aufen was limited to this eccle- 


siastical signification, it was no longer used for Tauchen,’ 


and can still less be used for it now that saufen (baptism) is 
no longer performed by ezzéauchen (immersion.)’’ (Krauth’s 
Conservative Reformation, p. 533 and 534.) 

Read another quotation that is purely Lutheran, and of 
course it is also Scriptural, otherwise it would not be Lu- 
theran ; for whatever is strictly Lutheran is in harmony 
with the Word of God.. Luther had no intention of convey- 
ing the idea of immersion as implied in bapfizo. The quo- 
tation is as follows: 

“The prepositions which Luther used in connection with 


. 


Io WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 


‘Taufen,’ show that he did not consider it in its actual use 
as a synonym of immerse: to baptize with water (mit,) with 
the Holy Ghost (mz¢.) John baptized with water (mit) ; 
baptized under Moses (under) with the cloud (mit.) It is 
not English to talk of immersing wth water; nor would it 
be German to follow ‘tauchen’ or ‘eintauchen’ by ‘mit’; nor 
any more so to use ‘sz?’ after ‘taufen,’ if taufen meant to 
immerse.’’ (Krauth’s Conservative Reformation, p. 534.) 

‘“But Luther has not left us to conjecture what he con- 
sidered the proper German equivalent for baptizo and bap- 
tismos, in their actual use—how much their actual use settled 
as to the mode of baptism. Five times only he departs from 
the rendering by ‘faufe, or taufen, but not once to use 
‘tauchen,’ but invariably to use waschen, to wash.”’ 

But the Messenger professes to quote from Luther’s Ser- 
mon on Baptism. It is true ‘‘An attempt has been made to 
show that Luther was an immersionist, by citing his views 
of the etymology both of the Greek and German words in- 
volved. The citation relied on for this purpose is from the 
sermon: Von Sacrament der Taufe, (Leipzig Edition, 22, 
139,) which has been thus given: ‘Die Taufe (baptism) 
is called in Greek, baptismos ; in Latin, immersion, that is, 
when anything is wholly dipped (ganz ims wasser taucht) in 
water which covers it.’ Further, according to the import 
of the word /au/, the child, or any one who is baptized 
(getauft wird,) is wholly sunk and immersed (sonk und 
tauft) in water and taken out again; since without doubt, 
in the German language, the word /auf, is derived from the 
word /ief, because what is baptized (¢aufet) is sunk deep in 
water. ‘This, also, the import of 4aufdemands.” (Krauth’s 
Conservative Reformation, p. 536.) 

Thus we have the quotation as translated by some who 
wish to make the impression that Luther was an immer- 
sionist. ‘‘The translation is not characterized by accuracy 
intel ot amas for it mutilates and mistranslates the words, — 
which, literally rendered, are; ‘Yet it should then be, and 
WOULD BE RIGHT (und war recht) that one sink and baptize 
entirely in the water, and draw out again, the child, etc.’ 
How different the air of Luther’s German from that of in- 
accurate English.’’ 

‘‘There is another yet more significant fact. It omits, 
out of the very heart of the quotation, certain words, which 
must have shown that the idea that ‘degiessen’ includes im- 
mersion is entirely false. The two sentences which are 


a ve 
vy 


WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. II 


quoted are connected by these words, which are Nor 


- QUOTED: ‘And although in many places it is no longer the 


custom to plunge and dip (stossen und tauchen) the children 
in the font (die Tau/,) but they are poured upon (degezss?) 
with the hand, out of the font (ows der Tauf.) Here over 
against immersion, as the very word to mark the opposite 
mode, is used that ‘degzessen,’ which, it is pretended, refers 
toimmersion. It seems to us inconceivable that any one 
could read the passage in the original, without having the 
falsity of the former position staring him in the face.’’ 
(Krauth’s Conservative Reformation, pp. 536 and 537.) 

It is safe to conclude, therefore, ‘‘from Luther’s opinion 
on the etymology of the words baptism and taufe, the infer- 
ence is false that he held that baptism, in the acTrUAL USE 
of the word, meant immersion, and that the German word 
taufe, in ACTUAL USE, had the same meaning. To state 
the proposition is to show its fallacy to any one familiar 
with the first principles of language.’’ (Krauth’s Conserv- 
ative Reformation, p. 538.) 


ARTICLE III. 
WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 


Baptizo, in the sense in which it is used in the New Tes- 
tament, does not mean to immerse, and there is no legiti- 
mate way to make it mean immerse. If I mistake not, 
some years ago, immersionists tried this by substituting im- 
merse for baptize, and immersion for baptism. But perhaps 
they found that this would not do; and hence, it seems, 
that version was not extensively used. At any rate I am 
informed they use, in their meeting houses, the commonly 
accepted version. How much better it would be for all to 
accept the doctrines of pure and undefiled religion as they 
are revealed to us in the Word of God. There is no clearly 
revealed or well defined precept, instance or example of 
baptism by immersion in the Bible. And there is no lawful 
way of puttingit there. Even the idea of immersion does not 
stand written upon any page of the Word of God. This will 
appear plain, if the Scriptures are properly interpreted. It 
is not the water, whether it be much or little, that produces 
such glorious effects as are realized when one is baptized ac- 
cording to the command and institution of Christ, but it is 
the word of God that is with the water, and our faith trust- 


I2 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. ee 


ing such word of God in connection with the water. Lu- 
ther says of baptism, ‘‘God has commanded that we useour 
hand and tongue in the administering of it, dy sprinkling  . 
: water upon the subject tn connection with the words which he 
has prescribed.” \ Again he says, ‘All that is essential to bap- 
tism ts the use of natural water in connection with the words of 
the tnstitution.’’ (S. Bap. S. Ex., pp 91 and 161). Now 
with all the quotations that I have made from Luther, what _ 
honest man can say truthfully that Luther favored immer- 
sion? If he believed in immersion why is it that he never 
immersed any one? Why is it that he himself was never 
imimersed ? The evidence that he favored immersion as be- _ 
ing the only Scriptural mode of baptism has never been fur- 
nished. It never will be produced. ‘‘The word immerse 
is not in the Bible,’’ and it cannot be put there by fair means: __ 

The Messenger of June 11 gives its readers this language: 

‘‘What Luther said about his desire for immersion, speaking of 
baptism as signifying death and life; he (Luther) said : ‘being moved 
by this reason I would have those that are to be baptized, to be en- 
tirely immersed, as the word imparts and the mystery signifies.’ 
(Dr. Du,Veil on ’Acts 8, 38. Vide Lutheri Catichis, Minor, Ingham's 
Hand-book of Baptism, page 272.)’’ 

In the first place let me remark that this quotation claims 
to give Luther’s meaning of the word baptize. It claims 
that Luther’s import of bapéized, is ‘‘ to be entirely immersed.” 
--I trust much that I have already quoted from Luther is suf- 
ficient to show to every reflecting individual who is willing 
. to receive and regard the truth, that Luther dzd not believe, 
teach or confess that baptized, imports to be entirely immers- — 
ed. But more of this further on. Let the following be 
carefully considered. Webster’s definition is this: ‘‘Im- — 
merse, immersed; buried; hid; sunk.’’ ‘This signification 
of immerse suggests to the mind the language of another in 
regard to immersion, i. e., ‘‘ Its leading import is destruc- 
tion. The sinking of a man always signifies degrada- 
tion.’”  (S. Bap. S. Ex.,-p. 202:) 

But the quotation in the Messenger as given by Ingham — 
claims to be from Luther’s Smaller Catechism. The follow-— 
ing paragraph will be sufficient to show the incorrectness of 
the Messenger's quotation, ‘‘In the orignal of the Smaller — 
Catechism there is not a word about immersion in a passage 
sometimes referred to. It is simply, ‘What signifies is 
water-baptism?’ (Wasser-Taufen.) ‘Immersion is but 
translation of a translation. The same is the case with th 
Smalcald Articles. The original reads: ‘Baptism is m 


WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF: BAPTISM, 13 


other thing than God’s word zm the water, (im wasser). 
There is not a word about immersion.” (Krauth’s Con- 
servative Reformation, p. 525.) 

- We are to determine the true and genuine meaning of any 
book, or instrument of writing by the original language,’ 
and not from translations thereof no matter by whom they 
are made. ee, paany ‘ a : 

_ But the Messenger next undertakes to tell its readers : 

_ “What Luther said about putting away sprinkling as an abuse.”’ 

It quotes him as saying : 

“ That this sprinkling was an abuse which they ought to remove.” 
Dr. Du Veil, on Acts 8, 38; Ingham’s Hand-book on Baptism, p. 
129. mete 

The Messenger seems to delight in quoting Ingham to es- 
tablish Lutheranism which is so eminently Scriptural in 
every form and feature. . 

_Let the following language be considered as a refutation 
of the absurd idea that Luther wanted to put away sprink- 
ling as an abuse which ought to be removed. Luther held 
no stich doctrine. ‘Mark these two sentences from the 
Larger Catechism: ‘Baptism is not our work, but God’s. 
For thou must distinguish between the baptism which God 
gives, and that which the keeper of a bath-house gives. 
But God’s work, to be saving, does not exclude faith, but 
demands it, for without faith.it cannot be grasped. For in 
the mere fact that thou hast had water poured on thee, thou 
hast not received baptism as to be useful to thee; but it 
profits thee when thou art baptized with the design of obey- 
ing God’s command. and institution, and in God’s name of 
receiving in the water the salvation promised. This neither 
the hand nor the body can effect, but the heart must believe. 
(das wasser uber dich giessen.) (The Latin is, aqua perfundi. ) 
In these words there is an express recognition of pouring 
or sprinkling (for the word tised by Luther covers both, but 
excludes immersion) as modes of baptism.’”’ (Krauth’s 
Conservative Reformation, p. 524.) 

“But there is another passage yet more decisive, if possi- 
ble: ‘We must look upon our baptism, and so use it as to 
strengthen and comfort us whenever we are grieved by sins 
and conscience. We should say: I am baptized, therefore 
the promise of salvation is given me for soul and body. For 
to this end ¢hese two things are done in baptism, that the body 
which can only receive the water, 7s wef by pouring, and 
that, in addition, the word isspoken that the soul may re- 


14 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 


ceive it. (Der Leib begossen wird.) (Latin, Corpus agua 
perfundatur.) ere not only is thé recognition of pouring 
or sprinkling explicit,’’ but it is placed far beyond success- 
ful contradiction. Luther clearly repudiates the Tunker 
‘doctrine of the zecess¢ty of immersion.’’ (Krauth’s Conserv- 
ative Reformation, p. 524.) 

Lastly, the Messenger claims to give its readers : 


‘“What Luther said about Trine Immersion; when advising the 
minister, as to the baptism of a Jewess convert, he said, ‘as to the 
public act of baptism, let her be dressed in the garments usually worn 
by females in baths, and be placed in a bathing tub up to the neck 
in water, then let the baptist dip her head three times in the water, 
with the usual words, ‘I baptize you in the name of the Father,’ etc. 
(Luther’s Works ed. Walch, part Io, p. 2637, translated by C. L. Loos, 
for the Disciples. )’’ 

This is the only quotation in the-MJessenger that claims 
to be direct from_Luther’s works. It refers directly to what 
Luther said when asked for information and advice in re- 
gard to the baptizing of a certain Jewess. I do not know 
the translator of the Messengers quotation ‘‘for the Disci- 
ples,’’ but the following are the facts relative to the case of 
the famous Jewess. Let them be well considered, and the 
Messenger’s statement will vanish like a cloud of smoke be- 
fore a hurricane. 

‘“ Attempts have, indeed, been made to show that Luther 
at least, held the necessity of immersion, and that the Lu- 
theran church either held it with him, or was inconsistent 
in rejecting it. We shall show how groundless these state- 
ments are. One of the passages most frequently appealed 
to, in the attempt to implicate Luther, is found in Walch’s 
Edition of his Works, X., 2637. In regard to this, the fol- 
lowing are the facts. 

1. The passage referred to is from a letter of Luther, 
written from Coburg, July 9th, 1530, in reply to an Evan- 
gelical pastor, Henry Genesius, who had consulted him in 
regard to the baptism of a Jewish girl. It will be noted 
from the date that the letter was written a few months after 
the issue of the Catechisms, in which it has been pretended, 
as we shall see, that he taught the necessity of immersion. — 

2. The letter, given in Walch, is also in the Leipzig edi- 
tion of Luther X XII., 371,) and is not in either edition in 


the original language, but is a translation, and that froma 
defective copy of the original. The original Latin is given 


in De Wette’s edition of Luther’s Briefe (IV., 8), and con- — 
tains a most important part of a sentence which is not found 


WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ‘ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 15 


in the German translation. The letter in Walch cannot, 
therefore, be cited in evidence, for it is neither in the origi- 
nal, nor a reliable translation of it. 

3. The whole letter shows that the main point of inquiry 
was not as to whether the girl should be baptized in this or 
that mode, but what precaution, decency demanded during 
the baptism, provided it were done by immersion. 

4. Luther says: ‘“‘Ir wouLD PLEASE ME, therefore, that 
she should . . . modestly have the water POURED UPON HER. 
(Mihi placeret, ut, . . verecunde perfunderetur,) or, if she sit 
in the water up to her neck, that her head should be im- 
mersed with a trine immersion.’’ (Caput ejus trina immer- 
stone immergeretur. ) 

5. An immersionist is one who contends that baptism 
must be administered by immersion. The passage quoted is 
decisive that Luther did not think baptism mst be so ad- 
ministered. He represents it as pleasing to him, best of all, 
that the girl should have the water applied to her by pour- 
ing; or that, if she were immersed, greater precautions, for 
the sake of decency, should be observed, than were usual in 
the church of Rome. It is demonstrated by this very letter, 
that LUTHER WAS NOT AN IMMERSIONIST. 

If Luther could be proved by this letter, to be an immer- 
sionist, it would be demonstrated that he derived his view 
from the Romish church, and held it in common with her. 
In like manner, the church of England, the Episcopal 
churches of Scotland and of the United States, and the 
Methodist churches, would be carried over to the ranks of 
immersionists, for they all allow the different modes. But 
these churches are confessedly not immersionist : therefore, 
Luther was no zmmersionist. 

7. Whatever Luther’s personal preferences may have been 
as to mode, he never even doubted the validity of baptism by 
pouring. But immersionists do not merely doubt it, they 
absolutely deny it ; therefore, Luther was no immersionist. 

8. An immersionist is one who makes his particular mode 
of baptism a term of church communion, and an article of 
faith. Luther was in a church which did not prescribe im- 
mersion as necessary—never made it an article of faith : 
therefore, Luther was no immersionist. — 

g. Finally, the letter of Luther shows that he preferred 
pourimg. He says expressly that it would please him that 
the water should be poured upon her head, and gives this 
the first place ; and his directions in regard to immersion, 


16 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM, 


are given only in the supposition that that mode might - be 


decided upon 7 she sit, etc., her head shall be immersed, ’ 


etc., sz sedens. 

Whatever, therefore, may be the difference beeen the 
doctrine of the necessity of immersion, and the ‘doctrine of. 
immersion,’ we feel safe in affirming that Luther held 
neither.’’ (Krauth’s Conservative Reformation, PPs. 520- 


524.) 


The Messenger then asserts, that i in the quotabion®: 


used in its article— Cire 
“taught baptism aoeadine to the commission, Matth. 28, 19.’’ 
ae then gives the admonition— 
“‘you should so believe.’’ 

But the Messenger. fails, totally faiis ‘ti to prove Luther’ s 
true position on baptism, because it does not quote direct from 
Luther s writings, but from Ingham’s Hand-book, and credits 
its entire article ‘“Philadelphia Tract, Lock Box 758.’’ Ob- 
serve the quotations are second handed. Its admonition is 
groundless. Luther taught no such doctrine as the W/essen- 
ger tries to tell its readers he taught. You should not so 
believe ; for I have given you quotations direct from Lu- 
ther’s own writings. You should believe them. For in 
them he taught baptism according to the commission, Matt. 
28, 19. ; 


ARTICLE IV. 
REBAPTIZING. 


We are induced to consider this subject briefly, though 


plainly, not because we find it mentioned, or even referred’ 
to in the Word of God, but because immersionists not only 
doubt, but positively deny every other mode except that,of 
immersion, and hence they plunge beneath the water any 
who have been baptized by sprinkling or pouring, and who 


are silly enough to yield to their human notions. They do 


this without any scriptural authority whatever, and then 
they call it a proper baptism. The evidence has never been 
furnished that immersion is a scriptural baptism at all. 

Such evidence can not be furnished. There is no “‘thus saith 
the Lord” for immersion. It is then, to say the least, a ques- 
tionable matter as to whether immersion is a valid baptism 
at all or not. ‘‘Therefore; these rebaptizers act danger~, 
ously indeed,’’ because there is no degree of certainty re- 
specting their position. (Luther on the Sacraments, p. 110.) 


WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. IZ 


Here is also another quotation from Luther. — It is in his 
Larger Catechism,* as contained in the Book of Concord, 
beginning on page 445): ‘‘But no one is permitted to sprinkle 
us with water again; for if a person should even permit 
himself to be sunk into water a hundred times, it would 
still be no more than one baptism ; this work,” (of baptizing 
by sprinkling) ‘‘however, continues, and the signification is 
permanent.’ Hear Luther again: ‘‘For he who suffers. 
himself to be rebaptized, recalls by that act his former faith 
and righteousness, and brings them into sin and condemna- 
tion—a thing which is shocking to hear.’’ (Luther on the 
Sacraments, page 116). 

Baptism is an institution of Christ—Matt. 28, 19. He 
designs and intends that it shall be received and used by all 
whose eyes see the light of this world. Christian baptism 
is to be administered to and received by the same individual 
only one time. It is not susceptible of any alteration, modi- 
fication, or improvement by any authority except that by 
which it was instituted, ordained, and enjoined. It is to 
be administered by Christ’s authority, ‘‘in the name of the 
Father, and of thg Son, and of the Holy Ghost,’’ and ac- 
cording to his command.—Matt. 28, 19. 

‘. When baptism is administered according to the command 
of Christ, it must not be repeated or reiterated: 1. ‘‘Be- 
cause it is the sacrament of initiation,’’ and ‘‘through which 
we are first taken into the community of Christians.’’— 
(Schmid’s Dogmatics, p. 569, and Book of Concord, p. 435.) 
It is the means by or through which God ordinarily effects 
our regeneration. There is no revealed way by which we 
can so much as see the kingdom of God without being born 
again, John 3, 3; and without being born of water and the 
Spirit, we cannot enter into the kingdom of God—John 3, 5. 
““As we are born but once, so also we are but once born 
again.’’ (Schmid’s Dogmatics, p. 569). But suppose some 
one does act badly, and commits sin even openly and grossly, 
what is to be done in his case? Is he to be born again? 
Must he be rebaptized? Will the reader let Luther answer? 
Luther in reply says: ‘‘If, however, those who are baptized 
act contrary to their conscience, permitting sin to rule over 
them, and thus aggrieve and lose the Holy Spirit in them ; 
they need not indeed be rebaptized, but they must be reconverted. 


*In April, 1529, the Larger Catechism was completed in the Ger- 
man language. 


18 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. — 


For it is certain that in true conversion there must be a 
change, new inclinations and new emotions take place in 
the understanding, will, and heart.’’ (Bk. of Conc., p-.537:) 

Again, suppose a person who has been baptized neglects 
his faith, and even for a time relinquishes it entirely, and 
after awhile, sees the error of his way, desiring to return to 
his first love, will it be necessary for him to be tebaptized 
again? or suppose some one would decide, as some have. 
erroneously done, to leave the Lutheran church, e. g., go to 
the anabaptist denomination ought he to be rebaptized ? 
Immersionists would doubtless answer these questions affir- 
matively. Lutherans would say no—not under any circum- 
stance. Why? Because they attach more importance to the 
Word than they do to the water, whether it be much or 
little. On this point Luther himself says : ‘‘ Even if they,”’ 
z. €., anabaptists, ‘‘wished to do justice to their own pre- 
sumption, they should institute, not a practice of rebaptizing, 
but of vebelieving ; for baptism is the word and ordinance of 
God, and needs no repetition or renewal ; but faith, if it has 
ceased to exist, requires renovation. ‘Therefore with con- 
sistency they might be reproducers of faith, (Wiederglaub- 
ler), but not rebaptizers, even if they were in the right, which 
however is not the fact.’’ (Luther on the Sacraments, p. 1 38:) 

There is no circumstance or condition whatever that will 
justify rebaptizing. We therefore say again with Luther : 
“If we baptize every one according to the comthand of 
Christ, we leave Christ to provide the manner in which the 
subjects of baptism shall believe.’’? (Luther on the Sacra- 
ments, page 128.) 

2. Baptism correctly administered should not be repeated : 
‘‘Because there is no precept, no promise, no example in the 
Holy Scriptures for such repetition.’’ (Schm. Dog., p. 569.) 

The idea of rebaptizing is no where to be found from the 
beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelations. Acts 
19 : 1-6 has been referred to in justification of rebaptizing. 
The reader is advised to examine that Scripture The men 
mentioned by the Apostle had been baptized “unto John’s 
baptism,’’ verse 3. For the reason, stated in this Scripture, 
verse 2, ‘‘Paul said, John verily baptized with the baptism 
of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should be- 
lieve on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ 
Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the 
name of the Lord Jesus’’—verses 4, 5. It is‘reasonable to 
conclude that Paul administered Christian baptism to these 


WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 19 


disciples ; ‘‘for to be a Christian a man must be baptized in 
the Christian faith ; these persons had not been baptized in- 
to that faith, and therefore were not Christians : they felt 
this, and were immediately baptized zx/o the name of the 
Lord Jesus.”’ 

There is no example in the Bible of any one being rebap- 
tized who had been previously baptized in the name of the 
Sacred Three. Itis an awful, awful thing to be rebaptized, 
to make the attempt or even to presume to be rebaptized ; 
for it is entirely contrary to the unanimous decision of the 
best of theologians; it is open opposition to the universal 
practice of the purest age of the Christian church ; it is con- 
trary to the plain teachings of the Word of God, its natural 
tendency being to bring this holy sacrament into disrepute. 

3. Baptism must not be repeated : ‘‘Because the fruit of 
baptism is perpetual, and the unbelief of man does not make 
the faith of God of no effect.”” (Schmid’s Dogmatics, p. 569.) 

Again Luther speaks : ‘“‘Whatever God makes and does 
are works which are steadfast, determinate, unchangeable, 
and eternal as himself. Consequently they stand and en- 
dure firm and immovable, and will not change, although we 
may probably misuse them in every respect. But whatever 
we do, is infirm and uncertain, as we ourselves are, so that 
we can ground or establish nothing upon it. In order, 
therefore, that baptism may be permanent and certain to us, 
he has not established it upon our faith, because that itself 
is uncertain, and can very readily be false; but he has es- 
tablished it upon his own word and ordinance, in order that 
it might be correct and might endure, and not become en- 
feebled and contemptible, even if faith do not attend it.’’ 
(Luther on the Sacraments, page 69). 

The mode of Christian baptism has been the subject of 
animated debate for years. "Thesame is true of the subjects 
of baptism. ‘This has been indulged even to the extent, on 
the part of some at least, to the neglect of the Word of God 
in baptism and the exercise of faith in that Word. It is 
God’s Word that makes the sacrament. Man’s faith there- 
fore can not make it. My faith finds the sacrament already 
made, and receives, applies, and appropriates the benefits 
and blessings connected with baptism. Hence, the import- 
ance of faith in the Word, and the unparalleled value and 
power of the divine Word. ‘‘He that believeth and is bap- 
tized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be 
damned.’’ 


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INFANT CHURCH WEMBERSHIP-BAPTISM. 


COMPRISING 
I. NATIVE DEPRAVITY. II. RELIGIOUS RELATICNSHIP WITH ABRAHAM. III. THE MEANING OF THE 
TERM COVENANT. IV. THAT ONLY ONE COVENANT WAS MADE WITH ABRAHAM,—ITS CON- 
FIRMATION—OANAAN AS A TYPE OF HEAVEN. VY. PRAOTIOAL AND DESULTORY INFER- 
ENCES, IN WHIOH THE BAPTIST SYSTEM AND ARGUMENTS, IN REGARD TO INFANT 
CHUROH MEMBERSHIP, ARE REVIEWED AND MORE FULLY REFUTED. 


BY 


REV. P.C. HENKEL, D. D., CONOVER, N. CG. 


HENKEL & CO., PRINTERS, NEW MARKET, VA.: 
OrFiceE OF Our CuurcH PAPER, SHENANDOAH VALLEY, ETc., ETc, 


PREFACE. 


The author of the arguments, contained in the following pages, in defence of I 
Church Membership and also of the Bible Mode of Christian Baptism, has, by | the 
solicitation of numerous friends, consented to publish them in book or pamphlet fe 

In view of the divine injunction, ‘‘Earnestly contend for the faith which was” 
delivered unto the saints,’’ the author has endeavored to make a plain defence, s 
furnish sincere, unsuspecting, and Es, people the means of protection again 
chievous, sophistical arguments. i 

He has no ill-will towards his Baptist friends, but wishes them to see the truth, < 
knows from experience, that there are some honest persons among them, 3 ake 
vinced of their error, will defend the truth with great zeal. Bec 

His views on Infant Church Membership were, to some ext published i in wie i 
an Standard many years ago, and afterwards, to some extent, in the Evangelical 
published in Charlotte, North Carolina, by Rev. N. Aldrich, and at that time many 
solicitations were made to have them put in book form. Now, in view of the 2 
end of the author’s ministry, on account of age, &c., the solicitations to have 
lished in book form, have become more urgent. 

The author, in a very early period of his life in the ministry, was compelled td m 
many bold challenges, which were made, or suffer the souls under his care, as well z a 
of many other ministers, to be misled. 

In the many and extensive discussions which the author had, he found op; 
often used the severest language in their power, which had a tendency to cause the 
in reply to them, to hurl back the most pungent repartees in their faces, Me : 
prudently make, with no other design, than, if possible, to lead them and their t 
their errors and to forsake them. With the experience, which the author was led so 
to obtain, and so long too, he was led more fully to see the necessity of using plain wo! 
If, therefore, in his written defence, a tone of severity is seen, the reply is, that facts < 
fidelity, not only excuse, but demand it. Truth will not admit of a compromise with « 
The truth must be spoken; and to speak without feeling its weight, is to treat it v 
difference. - 

His object, in this treatise, is to set forth, defend, and perpetuate the pure 
Divine Revelation, in regard to these important matters, in a plain, simple manner, Be th 
the common reader may form correct views relative to them. , 

He had intended to prepare an article, for this work, on the subject of * 
but the want of time, and an urgent desire for the appearance of the work in book fi 
prevented its preparation for this issue. thee 

May this little work lead many to the truth, as well as to embrace it, is the si nce! 
of the reader’s friend. ex Ent 


= 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP---BAPTISM. 


By Rev. P. C. HENKEL, D. D., CONOVER, N. C. 


CHAPTER ‘I. 


ORIGINAL DEPRAVITY. 


To see the necessity of infant bap- 
tism, and the responsibility of parents 
in reference to God’s commands, it is 
of vital importance to have correct 
views in reference to native,depravi- 
ty. The whole human family have a 
direct personal concern in this matter. 
It lies at the foundation of all sound 
theology; and he who fails to under- 
stand the depravity of our race, will 
fail to understand the remedy that 
has been provided for it. 

Original sin is not properly the na- 
ture, substance, or essence of man, 
that is, the body or soul of man; for 
God is the creator of both soul and 
body. I do not wish, therefore, to be 
understood, that depravity is a mate- 
rial substance infused into the soul; 


it is moral, not physical depravity, of 


which I speak. Man, since the fall, 
possesses no moral ability. The soul 
has lost its original righteousness and 
holiness, hence, cannot love, serve, 
and honor God. Man’s character in 
view of God’s moral law is known as 
an object of wrath and condemnation 
only. The same death in sin and cor- 
rupt nature whigh attached to our 
first parents, se fruit of their 


transgression, are “ gnveyed to all 


their posterity descending from them 
by ordinary generation; hence, the 
whole human family is defiled and 
corrupt from the womb, which defile- 
ment manifests itself with the earliest 
dawn of reason. 

With these remarks, I shall proceed 
to prove the doctrine. Let us appeal 
to the Scriptures. Job 3, 6—* That 
which is born of the flesh, is flesh ;” 
&c. Our Savior is speaking in this 

)} text of that which excludes men from 
the kingdom of heaven: “Except a 
man (Greek—rc, any one) be born of 
water and of the spirit he cannot en- 
ter into the kingdom of God,” v. 5d. 
Why not? Answer. Because “that 
which is born of the flesh, is flesh.” 
Hence, so soon as we are born into 
this world, we are unprepared for 
heaven; because we are naturally 
corrupt, like our source. Again, Job 
14,4: “Who can bring a clean thing 
out of an unclean? Not one.” And 
chap. 15,14: “What is man that he 
should be clean? and he whieh is 
born of a woman, that he should be 
righteous?” The word righteous 
shows, that Job and his friend are 
not speaking here merely of man’s 
natural frailty, but of his want of 
moral purity. He springs from a cor- 
rupt source, and is “born” “unclean,” 
i. e.. unrighteous. He ‘is depraved 
from his birth. : 


a ane 


Again, Gen. 6,5: “And God saw|the defilement of 
that the wickedness of man was great | humbles himself under the ai 
in the earth, and that every imagina- consciousness, that he has’ a 


tion of the thoughts of his heart was 
only evil continually.” Chap. 8, 21: 
“For the imagination, (dta,ua, the ex- 
ercise or act of the mind,) of man’s 
heart is evil from his youth.” It ap- 
pears from these texts, that not only 
some, but every imagination of the 
thoughts of his heart, is only evil, (not 
occasionally) but continually, and 
too, from his youth. Now, since man 
by nature is carnal, (fleshly,) be is 
from his infancy an object of divine 
wrath: “Because the carnal mind is 
enmity against God; for it is not sub- 
- ject to the law of God, neither indeed 
can be”—Rom. 8,7: “That which is 
born of the flesh, is flesh.” “Flesh ” 
denotes the opposite of “spirit; ” 
hence, death. “For to be carnally 
minded is death””—Rom. 8, 6. There- 
fore all who are born into this world 
by natural generation are spiritually 
dead; hence, “children of wrath by 
nature’—Eph. 2,3: And if “children 
of wrath by NATURE,” we are under 
the wrath of God from our birth,— 
_we belong to a condemned race,—a 
race upon which the sentence of con- 
demnation has been passed on ac- 
count of the sin of the first man, 
Adam. “Wherefore, as by one man 
Sin entered into the world, and death 
by sin, and so death passed upon all 
men, for that all have sinned”—Rom. 
5,12. Again, Ps. 51,5: “Behold [ 
was shapen in iniquity, and in sin 
did my mother conceive me.” Lan- 
guage cannot more distinctly express 
the native depravity of man, than 
this. The humble penitent does not 
stop with a confession of his outward 
sins, but in exercise of true contrition 
goes back to the depraved source 
from which they sprung. He bemoans 


very Commencement of his e 
“Behold, I was shapen in ini 
and in sin did my mother concei 
me.” He feels as the Apostle ex- — 
presses it: “And were by nature the | 
children of wrath, even as others.”— 
Eph. 2,3. Let me ask my Baptist 
friends, Are infants holy by nature ? 
If so, will you prove it? If they are 
innocent, did Christ die for them? If 
he did not die for them, can they be 
saved? If Christ did not die for in- 
fants, none but the person of our first 
parents can be saved; for all men be- ~ 
sides had their existence in infaney. 
But will you answer, that he died for 
infants, then tell me, did he die for 
the godly, or for the ungodly?—Rom. __ 
5, 6, says: “For when we were yet _ 
without strength, in due time Christ 
died for the ungodly.” If Christ died 
for infants, did he not die forsinners? 
Paul says, Rom. 5,8: “Whilewewere _ 
yet sinners Christ died for us.” 
Are infants in a state of nature, in an 
innocent state? Then they need no 
Savior. But, Christ “came to seek 


‘ 


and to save that which was lost.”— 
Luke 19, 10. Who ever perished be- # 
ing innocent? But if Christ has died 
for all infants; and, if in consequence _ 
of their redemption, they are in a state 
of grace and salvation; at what period — 

in life do they fall and lose that 
grace? And, if they can fall from 
grace, what becomes of the seven- J 
headed doctrine: “Once in grace, al ~ 
ways in grace”? If it is possible that 
God will permit an infant to fall from ~ 
a state of grace and innocence, is it 
not probable and possible, that an — 
adult may fall? Or is God’s presery- 
ing grace and care greater towards 


“ 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


the adult, than the infant? If so, I} count for the sufferings and death of 


wish to see the proof. Nowif you will 
admit, that all infants are redeemed, 
you must admit, that the whole human 
family are redeemed, for all (except 
the parents of our race) had their ex- 
istence in infancy. Again, if all are 
redeemed, and in consequence thereof, 
all infants are in a state of grace, it 
must necessarily follow, that the whole 
human family will be saved, or that it 
is possible to fall from grace ; or, that 
by nature, after all your presumption, 
they are children of wrath, and not of 
grace. But if Christ has not redeem- 
ed all Adam/’s race, I wish to see the 
proof; and also how you can be con- 
sistent when you labor to convert 
those whom God, in his decree has de- 
termined to save: and why you pray 
and labor to save the non-elect. I 
conclude that, if you look about a lit- 
tle, you must see, that you are like the 
war-like hero fighting his own shadow 
with the cudgel of the wind. The 
truth is, Christ has redeemed all: 1 
Tim. 2, 5,6; 1 John 2,2; 2 Pet. 2,1; 
Heb. 2,9; 14,15. Notwithstanding, 
there is no proof in the sacred Script- 
ures, that any will be saved without 
a proper use of the means of grace. 
But it is agreed, that infants are not 
eapable of this; and therefore have 
no right to Gospel means. This shall 
be faithfully examined before we close 
this subject. 

We have already proved the de- 
pravity of Adam’s race. God is a 
merciful and a just being. A just 
and merciful God will not inflict pun- 
ishments upon the perfectly innocent, 
nor suffer it to be done: but he chas- 
tises his children for their defects, 
short comings, and sins, that they 

‘may be made partakers of his holiness; 
see Heb. 12,6,11; 1 Cor. 11, 30, 32; 


Ps. 32, 4,5,6. But how can we ac-' 


infants, if they be perfectly holy ? 
Willa just and holy God chastise 
and punish the innocent? God for- 
bid! Well, does he cause, or permit 
them, to suffer, because he delights in 
seeing his creatures suffer? God for- 
bid! This cannot be proved. Again, 
does he cause or permit them to suffer, 
that they may be “exercised thereby;” 
yield “the peaceable fruits of right- 
eousness?” The possibility of this 
you will not admit; for your motto is, 
little children are not capable of this. 
Well, if God does not permit them to 
suffer for innocence, for nought, or to 
be exercised thereby, why do they 
have to suffer, and even die? There 
can be no correct answer given, unless 
we admit their deep depravity and 


sin. “By NATURE” we are “children 
of wrath.”—Eph. 2,3. “Behold, I 


was shapen in iniquity; and in sin 
did my mother conceive me.”—Psalm 
51,5. All Adam’s posterity are equal- 
ly depraved.—Rom. 3. They are liars 
as soon as they are born. The Psalmist 
says: “The wicked are estranged 
from the womb: they go astray as 
soon as they be born, speaking lies.” 
—Ps. 58,3. It is said, that “little 
children are holy,” that is, when they 
first come into this world! But I 
would ask, is a liar holy? Then they 
are holy liars! For “they go astray 
as soon as they be born, speaking 
lies.” “AJI liars shall have their part 
in the lake which burneth with fire 
and brimstone.”—Rey. 21, 8. Infants 
are liars from the time they are born; 
hence, subject to God’s wrath. They 
are by nomeans holy by nature: If 
they were, they could by no means 
fall, according to the doctrine of our 
opponents. I mean the doctrine of 
those who contend for the doctrine of 
final perseverance. 


' Again, if they are holy by nature, 
the Scriptures are not true. 

And, again, if they are made holy 
by the redemption of Jesus, then they 
- must be capable of being made holy, 
for they are not holy by nature; and 
if capable of holiness, they are capa- 
ble of regeneration. But if they can- 
not be made holy, or cannot be regen- 
erated, they cannot be saved. From 
what has already been shown, it is 
evident, that if infants are innocent 
and holy by nature, or as they are 
born into this world, provided the 
doctrine of final perseverance be true, 
that the whole human family will be 
saved, whether Baptist, Pedo-baptist 
or anything else; for all besides the 
persons of Adam and Eve had their 
existence in helpless infancy, hence in 
holiness and innocence, and, of course, 
God will save all who are ina state 
of grace, for they cannot fall accord- 
ing to such doctrine; or it will follow, 
provided you should conclude to admit 
their deep depravity, and yet deny 
their capability of regeneration, that 
all who die in infancy will be damned, 
or that they will go to heaven in their 
corrupt unregenerated state. Ifyou 
desire, take any horn of the dilemma; 
you must see that the first leads you 
to universalism ; the second to the 
damnation of all who die in intancy ; 
and the third to a denial of the lan- 
guage of Jesus Christ, when he says: 
_ © Except a man (ttc, any one) be born 


of water and of the spirit, he cannot | that their inelingeea to sin is 
enter into the kingdom of God ;” and | 
not only to this text, but a host of 


‘others, which might be given. 

If their depravity be admitted, and 
the assumption made that they are 
holy by redemption, in some myste- 
rious, inexplicable manner ; I answer, 
that it is altogether bee gging the 
question ; and I respond, that “The 


wind bloweth 
thou hearest the 
canst not tell wh 
whither it goeth; Ty 
is born of the Spirit.”—J 
“Then marvel not that Je 

—“Except a man (zc, any 
born of water, and of ai 


God.” 

This is tantamount toa sidecki 
that no descendant of Adam ( 
nary generation) can enter 
except he be regenerated. If 
its import, is ples in 


mee to be regenerated, "they a ie 
Ute for nothing but de] ei 


are not holy previous to being 
holy, unless the holy can be 
ae ! But should it be bir. 


neither a nor sinful it will be 
cult to show how they can be bei 
by the atonement, which, exelus 
was made for sinners: § 
atonement was made only fo 


by bad example. Answer. Cai 
no example of murder, yet he m Ww 
ed; and therefore must have ha 
inclination without any such exai 
and this is the case with all 
posterity. Furthermore, if 
race are not depraved, and 
moral character anteceden 
commission of actual sin, tl 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. ¢ 


must be unjust when inflicting a pen- | ence, death with all its gloom and 
alty upon Adam/’s posterity before | misery. 
they arrive at years of accountability.|_ hat Adam transgressed, we need 
A creature that is not accountable | yo¢ stop to prove. But it will be 
cannot sin, and if infants are not ac- necessary to notice, that the same 
countable, of course they cannot sin,! penalty, and condemnation to which 
and if they cannot sin, it seems that | he was subject, passed upon his pos- 
a righteous and merciful God would terity; and that they are regarded 
not permit them to suffer the penalty 
due to sin. Indeed, God is most mer- 
ciful and just? Do infantsdie? We 
know they do. What is death? An- 
swer. “The wages of sin.”—Rom. 6, 23. 
Whatis sin? Answer. “The trans-| corrupt in heart and mind as he was 


gression of the law.”—1 John 3, 4.| immediately after the fall, possessing 
Now, every sinner is a transgressor, | the likeness and inage of fallen Adam, 
and deserves the penalty due to sin, (Gen. 5, 3,) which consists in all un- 
which is death; and as infants die, | righteousness ; in a word, we “are the 
they receive the wages of sin ;—but! children of wrath by NATURE.” 


> as th r at a : ‘ 
he who h Bee . a acter at all, that That the whole human family were 
is, is neither guilty nor innocent, can 


: represented in the person of Adam, 

Pe on tetnicel Tae kre aan : and condemned on account of his first 
; Wise ¢ Howe : : 

God does inflict the penalty of death i eeshSaRm im NM eg 
upon infants as well as upon adults, 
they must have a character in refer- 
ence to the moral law as well as the 
adults. 


of his offence, and, consequently, his 
posterity sinned in him, and fell with 
him in that first transgression; so 
that since the fall, his posterity are as 


“And God blessed them, and God said 
unto them, Be fruitful and multiply 
and replenish the earth and subdue 
it;—Behold I have given you every 
herb bearing seed which is upon the 
face of all the earth, and every tree, 
in the which is the fruit of a tree yield- 


That infants have a character in 
view of the moral law, and that their 
character is sinful, has been proved; 
this, however, is not the principal 
reason why they are under the sen- 
tence of condemnation. Notwith- 


A child must perceive, that these dec- 
larations were intended for the pos- 
tion and want of moral purity would | self. 
be sufficient to condemn them eter- 


That Adam represented his poster- 
nally. 


ity too, in a moral, or legal point of 
view, is evident from the fact, that all 
his posterity are condemned for his one 
offence; not, however, that they have 
only thereby incurred a debt, a re- 
sponsibility by the offence of another, 
without any corruption of their own 
nature; for every individual of his 
posterity is personally as corrupt as 


Adam was created in the image of 
God, and in his person, as the federal 
head and representative of his pos- 
terity, God promised him and his seed, 
upon condition of his (not their) obe- 
dience, the reward of eternal life and 
the glory and happiness peculiar to it: 
And upon condition of his disobedi- 


and treated as sinners, on the ground 


following Scriptural declarations :— . 


ing seed; to you it shall be for meat.” . 


standing, their own personal corrup-| terity of Adam, as well as for him- ~ 


8 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTIE§ 


Adam. St. Paul says, Rom. 5, 12: 


“As by one man sin entered into the 


world, and death by sin; and so 
DEATH passed upon ALL men, for 
that ALL have sinned.” From this 
we learn, that death is the punish- 
nent of sin, and that all die because 
all have sinned. Notwithstanding, 
Adam/’s children did not become sin- 
ners by their own immediate individ- 
ual acts, nevertheless, they are sinnérs 
personally, and individually, so soon 
as they have a personal existence, 
and that too, as deeply corrupted as 
the source from which they obtain 
their existence, or trom which they 
spring; and the very first thought 
that they are possibly capable of, is 
sinful from that time to the last 
breath; unless changed by the atoning 
merits of Jesus Christ. See Gen. 6, 
5, chap. 8, 21; Eph. 2, 1, vs. 8, 9. 
Furthermore, that Adam represent- 
ed his posterity in divine government, 
is evident from the fact, that by his 
act of disobedience, they are judicially 
“ condemned.” 
Adam were tried in him, they have 
been condemned without atrial. But 
as the primitive state of man was 
probationaty, so, that when Adam/’s 
probation ended, it ended for all his 
race; for, “Judgment was by one to 
condemnation”—Rom. 5, 16. “All 
the world” is “guilty before God.” 
Ch: 3, 19. In Rom. 5, 14, Adam is 
called “the figure of him that was to 
come.” 1 Cor. 15, 45:. “The first 
man Adam was made a living soul, 
the last Adam was made a quickning 
spirit.” And verse 47: “The first 
man is of the earth, earthy; the 
second man is the Lord from heaven.” 
From these texts it appears there 
was a resemblance between Adam 
and the Saviour. This resemblance 
could not have consisted in their pos- 


Unless the race 


ants would equally be a figure 
Christ; neither can it consist mer 
in this, viz.: that as Adam was the 
natural root of his offspring, so Christ — 
is also the root or source of life-to his 
spiritual seed; this, however, is a 
truth, notwithstanding, it is not com- 
prehensive enough to embrace the 
full import of the words quoted; for 
the Apostle does not hold forth the 
view that Adam merely conveys a 
corrupt nature to his posterity, and 
therefore is a figure of Christ, for all 
parents convey a corrupt nature to 
their offspring, and would therefore 
be a figure of Christ too. It must be - 
borne in mind, that, in the 5th echap- 
ter of Romans, the apostle affirms that 
Adam involved his race in ruin on 
account of his first sin. It is said, 
“through the offence of one many be 
dead.” “By one man’s offence death 
reigned by one.” “As by the offence 
of one judgment came upon all men 
to condemnation.” ' . 
Ifis the apostle’s design merely to 
show, that Adam conveys a corrupt 
nature to his posterity, it will be diffi- 
cult to perceive, why he should have 
restricted the damage we suffer from — 
father Adam to his first offence. In 
Rom. 5, 12-19, it is the apostle’s object 
to illustrate the mode in whieh men 
are delivered from sin and death, by 
the mode in which they were brought 
into that state. According to the 
text they are justified through Christ, 
as they were condemned in Adam.— 
Verse 18 says, “Therefore, as by the 
offence of one judgment came upon all 
men to condemnation, even so by the 
righteousness of one, the free gift came 
upon all men unto justification of 
life.” That all men are condemned 
on the account of Adam’s transgres- 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 9 


sion, is undoubtedly the import of the | yet in eternal death; even so, all for 
apostle’s argument, and he uses this} whom Christ died are not in posses- 
familiar fact to illustrate man’s recov-| sion of, nor realizing eternal life, in 
ery by Christ. Many conclude from| regard even to the soul, antecedent 
this contrast, that, unless the word all, to faith in his name; notwithstand- 
can be restricted, as it is applied to| ing all are redeemed. If we limit the 
the justification of life, so as to em-| word all so as to embrace the (sup- 
brace the elect only, that all men! posed) elect, then, the non-elect would 
would be saved, regardless of faith, | be in a state of safety, or be in no re- 
as the condition upon which God jus- vealed condition whatever; for all 
tifies. They arrive at this conclusion | men upon whom judgment came to 
from an improper view of faith. The} condemnation, the free gift came unto 
word ail, as applied to the justification | justification of life ; and consequently 
of life, most assuredly includes all| the non-elect would neither be con- 
Adam’s posterity ; because, it occurs | demned nor justified. 

in such a connection as to admit ofno|” It is admitted, that the righteous- 
other meaning; for the text obvious-| ness of Christ came upon all men in 
ly shows, that the same all, upon| the same sense, that condemnation 
whom judgment came untocondemna-) came upon all by the disobedience of 
tion, came also the justification oflife.| Adam. But how does condemnation 
They are all condemned, but not all| come upon all men by the disobedi- 
punished :—they are all redeemed, | ence of Adam? They are most assur- 
but not all eternally saved. But the | edly under the sentence of condemna- 
text shows that the righteousness of | tion, but they are net all eternally 
Christ, came upon all men in the same | punished. In consequence of the fall 
sense, that condemnation came upon | they are sinners, and under the sen- 
all by the disobedience of Adam. | tence of condemnation, which, certain- 
This is admitted. It does not, how-| ly would be executed upon all, if some 
ever, prove a general restoration, no| of them did not take their refuge in 
more than it proves ageneral damna-| Christ. In the same manner the jus- 
tion. For Adam immediately after | titication of life came upon all men 
the fall was not ina state of eternal | through Christ; viz.: if through un- 
damnation ; although by his offence | belief they would not reject his righte- 
judgment came upon him to condem- ousness, they would be saved. If, 
nation, and also upon his posterity. } without any condition, it be true, that 
For had he then been already in eter- all, for whom Christ died, must be 
nal death, with soul and body, both| saved; then it must be equally true, 
himself and posterity would have been | that all who fell in Adam must also be 
eternally lost. So, if all for whom | eternally punished. Again; those who 
Christ died were personally in posses- | believe not, will as little be saved, 
sion of eternal life in regard to both | although Christ died for them, as 
soul and body, all would be saved.| those will be sentenced to eternal 
But this is not the case. Again, punishment, in the great day of judg- 
Adam immediately after his disobe-| ment, who believe in Christ, though 
dience, nor through his disobedience, | they had fallen in Adam, and were 
as it regards even the soul alone, or| under the sentence of condemnation. 
that of his posterity, was not then'It must be observed, that Adam, 


10 


through his disobedience, did not im- 
mediately enter into eternal punish- 
ment: (nor have we reason to think 
he ever did.) He must die a bodily 
death first, and that in unbelief, be- 
fore he can enter into eternal punish- 
ment; even so, it must be observed, 
that Christ, through his obedience, 
did not bring Adam and posterity 
immediately into possession of eternal 
life; although, “the free gift came upon 
all men unto justification of life.” But 
in order to the enjoyment or individu- 


- - . “4 | 
al realization of life, the redeemed, 


through faith, by which they are jus- 


tified, must die to sin, or, notwith- 


standing the universal atonement, no 
one will ever be able to say, in truth, 
and without ostentation: “Iam eru- 
cified with Christ: nevertheless, I 
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
me: and the life which I now live in 
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son 
of God, hp loyed me and gave him- 
self for me.”—Gal. And only 
those who remain faithful until death 
have the promise of a glorious resur- 
rection and endless enjoyment in 
heaven. 

Now, if all infants are elected and 
saved, merely because Christ died for 
all, then the whole race of Adam will 

_be saved, provided none of the elect 
can fall, for all had their existence in 
helpless infancy, except the parents 
of our race. But if he died only for 
a part of Adam’s race, that is, for the 
elect, this part must e elected in in- 
fancy, or a part of the elect, that is, 
those who die in infaney would be 
lost, and in this way all infants would 
be lost, both elect and non-elect. 

Again, if, because, “as by the of- 
fence of one judgment came upon all 
men to condemnation ; even so by the 
righteousness of one the free gift came 
upon all men unto justification of 


2, 20. 


cteaaes dei dinsheal a 
sav ed. 


that is, (the non- elect) Wenanien Ad 
sin or disobedience. Will they be , 

saved, if they are not under the sen- % 
tence of condemnation ? 


ee eS 


CHAPTER IL. 


INFANT BAPTISM. 


—_ 


Religious Relationship with the Patri- 
arch Abraham. 


Our relationship to father Abraham 
is of vital importance, and should be 
faithfully examined, and properly un- 
derstood. It is no very great bless- 
ing merely to be a literal descendant 
of Abraham, for this may be the case, 
and at the same time such may be 
the children of hell: Therefore, even 
if you are natural descendants,— 
“think not to say within yourselves, 
we have Abraham to our father: for 
I say unto you, that God is able of 
these stones to raise up ecluldren unto 
Abraham.” Matt. 3, 9; For: “Neither, 
because they are the seed of Abraham, — 
are they all children: but, In Isaac 
shall thy seed be called. That is, they 
which are the children of the flesh, 
these are not the children of God: 
but the children of the promise are 
counted for the seed.” Rom. 9: 7, 8; 
“What shall we say then? that the 
Gentiles, which followed not after 
righteousness, have attained to right- 
eousness, over the righteousness which 
is of faith. But Israel, which follow- 
ed after the law of righteousness, 
hath not attained to the law of right- 
eousness :” verses, 30,31. We may 
ask, why? Answer. “Because they 
sought it not by faith, but as it were 


by the works of the law: for they 
stumbled at that stumbling-stone; | 


As it is written, “ Behold, I lay in 


Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of | 
offence: and whosoever believeth on 


him shall not be ashamed.” Verses, 
32,33. It mast be observed that 


Abraham was not to be the father of | 


a certain particular nation of people; 
but, “of many nations ;” and that in 
@ very peculiar sense. 
thy name any more be called Abram; 
but thy name shall be Abraham; for 
a father of many nations haye I made 
thee.” Gen. 17,5. Whether, or not, 
our Baptist friends will acknowledge 
Abraham as their father in this pecn- 
liar sense shall be left to their own 
choice. 
great reluctance that the “ Wander- | 
ing Pilgrim,” a great Baptist cham- 
pion, acknowledged it: yes, so much 
so, that I felt that I had almost com- 
mitted extortion in making the point- 
ed exaction of him: but to the sub- 
ject. “Know ye therefore, that they 
which are of faith, the same are the 
children ot Abraham. And the Seript- 
ure, foreseeing that God would justify 
the heathen through faith, preached 
before the gospel unto Abraham, say- 
ing, In thee shall all nations be bless- 
ed. Sothen they which be of faith | 
are blessed with faithful Abraham. 
Gal. 3: 7,9. For, Christ hath re- 
deemed us from the curse of the law, | 
being made a curse for us: for it is | 
written, cursed is every one that | 
hangeth ona tree: That the blessing 
of Abraham might come on the Gen- 
tiles through Jesus Christ; that we | 
might receive the promise of the | 


Spirit through faith,” verses 13, 14. ; 
“Do we then make void the law! 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


“Neither shall 


I know that it was with very | 


through faith? God forbid: we es- 


tablish the law.” Rom.3, 31. “What | 
shall we say then that Abraham, our ' 


father as pertaining to the flesh, hath 
found? Forif Abraham were justi- 
fied by works, he hath whereof to glo- 
ry; but not before God. For what 
saith the Seripture? Abraham be- 


lieved God. and it was counted unto 


him for righteousness.” Ch. 4: 1,3.— 
“And he received the sign of cireum- 
cision: a seal of the righteousness of 
the faith which he had, yet being un- 
circumcised; that he might be the 
father of all them that believe, though 
they be not circumcised ; that right 


_eousness might be imputed unto them 


also: And the father of circumcision 
to them who are not of the circumeis- 
ion only, but who also walk in the 
steps of that faith of our father Abra- 
ham, which he had, being yet uneir- 
eumeised. For the promise, that he 
should be the heir of the world, was 
not to Abraham, or to his seed, 
through the law, but through the 
righteousness of faith. For if they __ 
which are of the law be heirs, faith is 


| made void, and the promise made of 


none effect: Because the law worketh 


| wrath: for where no law is, there is 


no transgression. Therefore if is of 
faith, that it might be by grace; to the 
end the promise might be sure fo all — 
the seed; not to that only which-is 
of the law, but to that also which Is 
of the faith of Abraham, who is the 

father of us ail, (As it is written, I 

have made thee father of many na- 
tions) before him whom he believed, 
even God, who quickeneth the dead, 

and calleth those things which be not 

as though they were. Who against 
hope believed in hope, that he might 
become the father of many nations,” 
&e., verses, 11, 18. For: “There is 
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neith- 
er bond nor free, there is neither male 
nor female: for ye are all one in 
Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, 


; 
t 


/12 


_ all true believers are his children :— 


then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs | 
according to the promise,” ver. 28, 29. 

Nothing can be plainer revealed 
than the religious relationship of all 
true believers, under both dispensa- 
tions, with the patriarch’ A braham,— 


bond, tree, male or female; and that 


children, “as Isaac was.”—Gal. 4, 28. 
“Know ye theretore, that they which 
are of faith, the same are the children 
of Abraham,” ch. 3,7. “Now we, 
brethren, as Isaac was, are the chil- 
dren of promise,” ch. 4, 28. Now, my 
Baptist triends, “If ye were Abraham’s 
children, ye would do the works of 
Abraham.” John 8,39. I mean, ye 
would do that which, “God said unto 
Abraham, Thou shalt keep my coye- 
nant therefore, thou, and thy seed af- 
ter thee, in their generations.” Gen. 
17,9. But you exclude your children 
from God’s covenant :—“this did not 
Abraham,” nor any of his children. 
But are youof Abraham’s generation ? 
Then keep the charge given to Abra- 
ham and his seed. But if you are | 
none of Abraham’s children, then do 
not dispute the privilege, nor deny 
those of his generation, the right of 
dedicating their infants to God, by 
that rite which seals the Abrahamic 
covenant under the New Testament 
dispensation. Now, my Baptist 
friends, I ask, I emphatically ask, do 
you claim to be _Christ’s by faith ?! 
This you cannot be, unless you are 
“ Abraham/’s seed and heirs according 
to the promise.” Are you “children 
of promise,”—“ as Isaac was?” Then 
keep the covenant made with your 
father Abraham, as Isaac did, or dis- 
claim all relationship with them in 
every sense: For, unless you are chil- 
dren of Abraham by faith} and breth- 


ren with Isaae, of the : 
and promises, and Christ’s 
way, there is no Seriptural, n 
tional ground to conclude, relative to 
you, and to say with the Apostle: 
“And if ye be Christ’s then are ye 
Abraham’s seed, and heirs according 
to the promise.”_—“ Know ye there- 
fore, that they which are of faith, the - 
SAME are the children of Abraham.” - 
“Now we, brethren, aS ISAao wAs, 
are the CHILDREN of PROMISE.” — 
For as certain as you are Christ’s 
(otherwise than merely by creation 
and redemption; and you haye your 
redemption through the Abrahamic 
covenant promises,) I mean by adop- 
tion,—“then are ye Abraham’s seed. 
and heirs according to the promise.” 
Gal. 3, 29. “For it is written, That 
Abraham had two sons; the one by 
a bond-maid, the other by a free 
woman. But he who was of the bond- 
woman was born after the flesh; but 
he of the free woman eas by promise. 
Which things are an allegory: for — 
these are two covenants; the one 
from mount Sinai, which gendereth 
to bondage, which is Agar. For this 
Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and 
answereth to Jerusalem which now 
is, and is in bondage with her chil- 
dren. But Jerusalem which is above 
is free, which is the mother of us all.” 
Gal. 4, 22, 26. Now, are you Abra- 
ham’s children by the free woman, or 
by the bond-woman? you must be 
one or the other, or so far as the 
church and means of grace, or the 
covenants and promises of God are 
concerned; or even the moral law 
itself may be concerned, you must be 
perfectly anomalous. Be ee 
In conclusion of this chapter, I shall 
only yet remark, that neither our 
Baptist friends, nor any one else, can 
claim to be “the children of God by 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 
5 | 


faith in Christ J esus,” without involv- 
ing themselves in the Apostle’s con- 
clusion; viz.: “And if ye be Christ’s 
then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs 
according to the promise.” 


<--> 


CHAPTER ITI. 


INFANT BAPTISM. 

In this chapter we design to show 
the nature or meaning of the term, 
Covenant. 

A covenant is any order or plan 
laid down, according to which parties 
are bound to act. Common contracts 
between parties are covenants in 
which contractors are bound. Every 
coutract is a covenant in a certain 
sense, because in every one there is 
an order laid down according to which 
parties are bound to act. Contracts 
are called covenants in the Holy 
Scriptures for this reason: and this 
we might presume would not be denied 
by our Baptist friends. 

They, however, object upon this 
very ground to infants entering into 
covenant. They say they are too 
young, and hence unqualified to enter 
into covenant, inasmuch as they can 
not consent to it; for, say they, it 
requires the consent of both parties 
to make a covenant. This is true to 
some extent in the common affairs of 
lite; but it is not universally so even 
concerning earthly things, much less 


with God’s covenants, or plans of 


dealing with his creatures. We say 
it is not sufficiently founded in eove- 
nants of men to sustain the Baptist 
objection. Instance, a will. If aman 
of sound mind makes a will, it is an 
order or plan laid down according to 
which executors and heirs are bound 


to act, and is a covenant regardless | 


of the consent of parties; and hence, 
an infant even one day old, is both 


| 


13 


as much bound and blessed in such a 
covenant asa child who may, at the 


time of making the will, be twenty- . 


one years of age. It is therefore not 
the consent of parties that constitutes 
it a covenant, hence, any law or rule 
of action imposed by authority is a 
covenant in this respect, and partieu- 
larly in the Scriptural sense of the 
term: And the obligation of God’s 
covenant arises not from the consent 
of his creatures ; but from his author- 
ity. He has therefore the right to 


|lay down his own plan of dealing 


with his creatures and to enforce it 
according to His holy will and sover- 
eign pleasure; and consequently may 
deal with His creatures either in 
mercy, or in judgment, as cireum- 
stances may require; a covenant may 
therefore contain promises or threat- 
enings, or both. 


That any law or rule of action im- 
posed by authority is a covenant in 
the Scriptural sense of the term, is 
evident from the following specimens, 
viz.: The ten commandments are a 
covenant. Hxod. 34, 28. “And he 


; wrote upon the tables the words of 


the covenant, the ten command- 
ments.” Now we may ask, who sat 


|in legislation with the Almighty and 


consented to the making of this cove- 
nant; if the consent of both parties 
is required to make it a covenant? 


'The most superficial mind ean per- 


ceive that the ten commandments 
are a law or rule of action imposed 
by divine authority, regardless of the 
consent of parties. God made a coy- 
enant with Noah and his seed, and 
with the beasts of the earth. Gen. 
9, 9,10, 11,12: “And I, behold, I es- 
tablish my covenant with you, and 
with your seed after you: and with 
every living creature that is with you, 
of fowl, of cattle, and of every beast 


14 


of the earth with you.” We say the 
consent of parties is not required to 
constitute God’s covenant, a cove- 
nant; but it is a covenant regardless 
of the consent of parties,—a rule of ac- 
tion imposed by divine authority,—it 
is God’s plan of dealing with his creat- 
ures. Our Baptist friends oppose us, 
and say: “It requires the consent of 
parties to make a covenant: uneon- 
scious babes cannot consent; there- 
fore they cannot enter to covenant 
with God consistently ; wherefore let 


them wait till they arrive at years of 


maturity, then let them enter, when 
they are capable of consenting.” An- 
swer. Suppose it were raining, and 
all the low portions of the country 
were inundated, and the waters were 


rapidly approaching the summit of 


the highest hills and mountains ;— 
and then suppose I were so situated 
as to preach to all the Baptists in the 
world; saying, God will “bring a 
flood of waters upon the earth, to de- 
stroy all flesh, wherein is the breath 
of life, from under heaven ; and every 
thing that is in the earth shall die.” 
Reader! do you suppose that the 
Baptists would believe me, when even 
seeing the seeming fulfillment, 
(though not completed) of what I 
was saying, taking place before their 
eyes? No, indeed. You would be 
likely to see. them smile politely, and 
look wondrously wise out of their 
eyes; saying, “we know that this 
man is preaching falsehoods to us, for 
we know that God established his 
covenant with father “ Noah and his 
SEED AFTER HIM,” &c. We would 
soon see them turn pedo-Baptist in 
point of argument; (just like they 
do to maintain female communion), 
and I do think it would be a difficult 

matter for me to get shut of them, 
* though preaching as consistently as 


| dear reader, do you not think that I — 


ing beet it requires — a: con. b 
parties to constitute a covenant. Bi 


might yet prevail if I would act wise- — 
ly and say, I cannot see how the un- 
born posterity of Noah, the fowl, the 
cattle, and beasts of the earth, could 
give consent; and therefore they could | 
not enter atta covenant, for an infant 
already born, is too unconscious to 
do this; you see, dear reader, that if I 
(acting the part of a skillful Baptist) 
would place my blinded reason in op- 
position to,divine revelation, and pre- 
varicate somewhat gravely, how I 
could succeed. But to lay all tantal- 
ism aside, I must confess, that I 
would have to quit my Baptist cue, 
and turn pedo-baptist with them, lest 
all sincere Bible readers might see 
the cheat and forsake me. Having 
been restored to our wits by this Bap- 
tist (I should have said pedo-baptist) 
opposition, I will proceed: and again 
aftirm that a covenant, in the Serip- 
tural sense of the term, is God’s plan 
of dealing with his creatures regard- 
less of their consent. Then, the obli- 
gation of God’s covenant does not 
arise from the consent of his crea- 
tures; but from his authority. The 
covenant of God, made with Noah, 
was, “for per pannel generations,” 
Gen. 9, 12. So, too, the covenant 
made with Abraham is properly a 
constitution of perpetual obligation. 
It is imposed by divyme authority 
upon Abraham and his seed to a 
thousand generations, (I Chron. 16; 
15-18;) even for ever, without respect — 
to their consent. Nodoubt Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob, and all their beliey- 
ing posterity, most cheerfully consent- 
ed to it; although their consent was 
no part of the covenant; consequent- - 
ly their consenting to it was but the 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


15 


taking hold of God's covenant, which 
previously existed. Then, let it be 
undersood that the covenant made 


with Abraham is a constitution of 


perpetual obligation, binding upon his 


posterity, as well as upon himself, and | 


that noone can excuse himself for 
disobedience to its requisitions, upon 


the ground that he never gave to it | 
In conclusion of this | 


his consent. 
chapter, I shall yet remark, that as 
allmen by ordinary generation have 
descended from Noah, and are equal- 
ly concerned and blessed, touching 
the coyenanted promises of God in 
regard to preservation from a general 
deluge, as Noah was, although we 
had no personal existence at that 
time, and consequently never gave 
any personal consent to the making 


of the covenant: may we not safely | 


conclude that, whereas Abraham is 
the father of all true believers in 
Christ to whom the covenant prom- 
ises of divine grace were made, that 


we, who are in this covenant, (analog- 


ically speaking) although we are in 
helpless infancy, are equally secure 
under the divine covenanted promises 
of God made to father Abraham and 
his seed, since the covenanted prom- 
ises concerned all his seed ? 


<< 


CHAPTER IV. 


INFANT BAPTISM. 
It has been shown that there was 
but one covenant made with Abra- 


ham, and to some extent shown that | 


this was the covenant of grace, that 
it yet exists, and must therefore in- 
clude infants, since they were included 
when it was made with Abraham, and 
never, in all the revelations of God, 
excluded. 


The opinion is, however, somewhat 


| prevalent, that God made two dis- 
tinct covenants with Abraham; and 
as this is caleulated to mislead many, 
I deem it necessary to show that it is 
not founded in truth. In the 15th 
chapter of Genesis it is said that “the 
Lord made a covenant with Abram,” 
(Abraham,) and in the 17th chapter 
we read, “I will make my covenant 
between me and thee.” From these 
statements, it is thought God made 
two distinct covenants with Abra- 
ham. But it must be observed that 
the language in the latter case only 
implies the extending and confirming 
of a covenant already in existence. 
It is not said, “I will make another 
covenant between me and thee ;” but 
“T will make my covenant,” &c.; and 
“as for me, my covenant is with thee,” 
which very plainly shows the exist- 
ence of a previous covenant. This 
must be true trom the fact, that the 
same things are promised in both 
places, to the same individual, upon 
the same terms. That the same thing 
is promised in both places is quite 
obvious. In the fifteenth chapter it 
is said: “He that shall come forth out 
of thine own bowels shall be thine 
heir. Look now toward the heavens, 
and tell the stars, if thou be able to 
number them—so shall thy seed be. 
| Lam the Lord, that brought thee out 
|of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee 
' this land to inherit it. In that same 
day the Lord made a covenant with 
Abraham, saying, unto-thy seed have 
I given this land.” In chapter 17 it 
is said: “Sarah thy wife shall bear a 
son indeed—she shall be the mother 
of natiovs. I will make thee exceed- 
ing fruitful, and I will make nations 
of thee. Thou shalt be a father of 
many nations. And I will give unto 
thee, and unto thy seed after thee, 
the land wherein thou art a stranger, 


y 


16 


all the land of Canaan, for an ever- 
lasting possession.” This distinctly 
establishes our position, and hence 
the 17th chapter only repeats and 
confirms the covenant made in the 
15th; for it would be absurd to sup- 
pose that two distinct covenants, 
alike in all particulars, should be 
made with one and the same person. 

God recognizes but one covenant 
made with Abraham ; and confirmed 
but one with Isaac and Jacob, and 
this is the same one that was made 
with Abraham: “Be ye mindful al- 
ways of his covenant, the word which 
he commanded to a thousand genera- 
tions.” 1 Chr. 16,15. What cove- 
nant is this? Answer. “Even ofthe 
covenant which he made with Abra- 
ham, and of his oath unto Isaac,” 
v.16. Was this covenant which he 
made to Abraham, and confirmed by 
an oath to Isaac, the same that was 
confirmed to Jacob and Israel? An- 
swer. “And hath confirmed the same 
to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for 
an everlasting covenant.” Did the 
covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, 
Jacob, and Israel, promise the 
same thing? Yes; “saying, unto 
thee will I give the land of Ca- 
naan, the lot of your inheritance ; 
when ye were but few, (that is, when | 
it was first promised to Abraham, 
then to Isaac, then to Jacob; before 
Abraham’s seed were far multiplied,) 
and strangers in it. And when they 
went from nation to nation, and from 
one kingdom to another people, He 
suffered no man to do them wrong; 
yea, He reproved kings for flew 
Bakes. ” 8th chapter, v.18, 21. 


“And | enemies, 


Ex. 6, mye 


nant made with Abrnhae 3 
very clear he confirmed the same 
Isaac and to Jacob. See Ps. 105, 8, 12. 
_ Furthermore, both the Old and New 
Testaments mention butone covenant 
with Abraham. Dent. 8,18. “But 
thou shalt remember ‘wee Lord thy 
God, that He may establish His coye- 
nant that He swore unto thy fathers, 
as it is thisday.” Neh. 9,7,8. “Thou 
art the Lord, the God who didst choose 
Abram, and gayest Him the name of 
Abraham, and madest a coyenant 
with him.” Ps. 105, 8,10. “He hath 
remembered His covenant forever, 
which covenant He made with Abra- 
ham, and His oath to Isaac, and eon- 
firmed the same to Jacob for a law, 
and to Israel for an everlasting cove- 
nant.” The Psalmist speaks with 
direct reference to the birth of Christ. 
Had Christ never been born, the 
Abrahamic covenant would not haye- 
been perpetuated and “remembered 
forever.” The birth of Christ gives 
rise to a repetition of the grace and 
mercies promised in this “holy cove- 
nant.” «Eis holy covenant” was 
made with Abraham ; it included in- 
fants, and must yet include them; for 
at the coming of Christinto the een 
it was not revoked, nor changed, but 
“remembered.” Take says: “To per- 
form the mercy promised to our fa- 
thers; and to remember His holy 
covenant, the oath which He sware 
-to our father Abraham, that He 
would grant unto us; that we, being 
delivered out of the handy of our 
might serve him without 


I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac j fear, in holiness and righteousness 
and unto Jacob:—And I have also | before Him, all the days of our life.” — 


established my covenant with them 
to give them the land of Canaan; and 
I have remembered my covenant.” 


Chap. 1; 72, 75. From this we per-— 
ceive, that not only is the eovenant — 
identical, but that no other ever ten-— 


i 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. ’ 17 


dered to men blessings so great, or 


privileges so noble. Through it Chris-. 


tian freedom and boundless happiness 
are conferred. It is the charter of 
privilege, the treasure of promise, 
great and precious; God's wisest, 
best, and only plan of saving man, 
and has, in all ages, been the promi- 
nent means of promoting the true 
knowledge of God, and the salvation 
of Adam’srace. It unlocks the sacred 
volume, and opens to us the richest 
fountains of wisdom and happiness, 
and is the spring of everlasting grat- 
itude in us towards the father of our 
spirits. 


The Abrahamic covenant is so far | 


from conferring temporal blessings 
merely, that it confers the very re- 
_yerse. Canaan, the seeming temporal 
inheritance, was so far from being 
the only inheritance and_ blessing 
promised to Abraham and his seed, 
in God’s covenant with him, that it 
was purely typical of heaven. By 
faith, Abraham, when he was called 
to go out in a place which he should 
receive for an inberitance, obeyed; 


and he went out, not knowing whither | 


he went. By faith he sojourned in 
the land of promise as in a strange 
country, dwelling in tabernacles with 
Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him 
of the same promise: For he looked 
for a city which hath foundations, 
whose builder and maker is God. 
Heb. 11; 8, 10. 
that which God in his covenant prom- 
ised him and his seed, “the heirs with 
him of the same promise.” True, 


Canaan was promised; that is, as a! 


type of heaven, not merely as a tem- 
poral inheritance, “for he looked for 
a city which hath foundations, whose 
builder and maker is God.” 

The covenanted promises of God 
to Abraham and his seed, were typical- 


’ 


Abraham looked for | 


| ly received through the promise of 
Canaan; not “temporal inheritance 
merely,” or “national distinction with 
temporal inheritance ;” for temporal 
inheritance, or national distinetion 
with temporal inheritance, might 
have been realized without faith in 
the Savior to come, and no violence 
liave been done thereby to the prom- 
| ise of heaven through Canaan as a 
type; but, into Canaan, as a type of 
heaven, no one could enter without 
faith; (though it was promised in the 
Sinaitic covenant upon terms of per- 
fect legal obedience, which is quite a 
different covenant to that of the 
Abrahamic, as shall be shown.) 
“And to whom sware he that they 
should not enter into his rest, but to 
them that believed not? So we see 
| that they could not enter in because 
of unbelief’ Heb. 3; 18,19. The 
Abrahamic covenant promised heay- 
en, by grace through faith :—under 
| the old dispensation, through Canaan 
as a type:—under the new, “ with 
open face ;” 2 Cor. 3,18; “by grace 
through faith.” Eph. 2,8. The Abra- 
hamic covenant promises, led to the 
inheritance of Canaan, as a type of 
heaven, not by works, but by faith. 
“For if the inheritance be of the law, it 
| isno more of promise: but God gave it 
to Abraham by promise.” - Gal. 3, 18. 
The Abrahamic and Christian, or new 
dispensation, (if such distinction be 
required) covenant is identically the 


/ed under both, upon the same terms ; 
viz.: by faith. By faith, Abraham, 
when he was called to go out into 
a place which he should after receive 
as an inheritance, obeyed; and he 
went out not knowing whither he 
_went. By faith (Paul does not say, 
| through prospects of tem poral inheri- 
tance; but, by faith) he sojourned in 


‘ 


| Same covenant, for heaven is promis- 


i 
ey i 


the land of promise, as ina rags | more i it can sie sho’ 


Isaac asd Jacob, the oe with him | that it is the covenant of grace 
of the same promise: for he looked | | petually so, the more clearly wil 
(not for “national distinction with | be seen that infants must be - included 
temporal inheritance;” but,) for a | in this covenant, and forever, (in the 
city which hath faudatrony: whose | church militant and triumphant, if 
builder and maker is God.” Heb.| you please) unless it can be shown 
11; 8,10. God, in the covenant made | that God has exeluded them, which 
with ibe tian: promised him to be} we know all the Baptists in the world 
his God and the God of his seed after | ; cannot do. In order to show that the 
him. The language is, “to be a God | Abrahamie covenant did not include 
unto thee, anal to thy seed after thee, | Scriptural blessings, Mr. Noel, a Bap- 
and I will be their God.” Gen. 17; / tist writer, says: “It has been thought 
7, 8. God’s special object in apleaie that the A brahamie covenant included 
ing covenant with Abraham was not | scriptural blessings, because the terms 
merely to bless him with temporal | of the promise to Abraham respecting 


blessings, as contended by our Bap- 

tist friends——They very well know, 
that, if heaven (as typified by Ca- 
naan) was the object which God had 
in view as the inheritance that he 
would bestow upon Abraham and his 
seed through his covenant promises, 
that Abraham’s infant seed must 
have had the promise of heaven too, 
in this covenant, and that the Abra- | 
hamic covenant must be of duration 

to all futurity. They therefore say, 

that the covenant which God made 

with Abraham was only of a temporal 

nature, and therefore did not include 

the blessings that should be manifest- 

ed under the new dispensation. But 

for their view, there is no proof. 

They well know if there was but one 

covenant made with Abraham; and, 

that, if it promised grace, that grace | 
was offered to his infant seed, as they 

in infaney entered into covenant with 

God. 

If Baptists could show that there| 
were two distinct covenants made with 
Abraham (which they cannot do), it 
would devolve on them to show that 
the one into which infants entered 
was not the Covenant of Grace. The 


6 


his descendants were, ‘I will be their 
God;’ Gen. 17: 8; and God said to 
them, ‘I will take you to me for a peo- 
ple, and I will be to youa God ;? Exod. 
5:7. ‘I am the Lordthy God,’ Exod. 
20:1. Now this is the promise made 
to the glorified saints of Christ, ‘God 
himself shall be with them and be 
their God; Rev. 20: 3. But it is 
obvious that words may have a lower 
or a loftier sense in different connec- 
tions.” Page 152. Answer: Mr. Noel 
almits that the phrase, “I will be 
their God,” &c., is the promise made 
to the glorified saints of Christ. I 
admit “that words may have a lower 
or a loftier sense in different connec- 
tions.” But, because thisis the case, 
does it necessarily follow that it is a 

low sense in which God promised 
Abraham in the covenant, to be his 
God, and the God of his seed? (!! !) 
By no means. Mr. N. quotes Acts 
17: 28-29, to prove that God is the 
God of allmen. I admit that it proves 
it, but I deny that it is in the same 
sense, in which God promised to be 
Abraham's God, and the God of his 
seed; and defy the Baptist church 
with all its predestinarian and anti- 


e 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. “19 


_ predestinarian preachers to prove it.| Israel’s God, upon condition that they 
Mr. N. gives the phrase, “I will be | would render perfect obedience to the 
their God,” three degrees in import; | laz’s demands, he, nevertheless, shall 
yiz.:—the God of the Heathen, the | never be able to prove that God 
God of Israel, and the God of saints.| promised to be Abraham’s God under 


He says: page 152—*As, then, we ; 
may not say that the heathen are the . 
children of Godin the same sense that | 
adopted believers are, so neither may | 
we say that God was the God of Israel ! 
in the same sense in which he is the | 
God of saints.” Answer: I do not | 
only admit, but contend that God is | 
not the God of Abraham and his seed | 
in the same sense that he is the God 
of the heathen; and furthermore con- 
tend that God, in the covenant made 
with Abraham, promised to be Abra-| 
ham’s God and the God of his seed. | 
in the very same sense that God is the 
God of saints. And still further— | 
_ that if he is the God of Israel in a} 
sense differing from that, that he is | 
God of “the glorified saints of Christ,” 
(using Mr. N’s phrase) the promise | 
that he would be the God of Israel in | 
this distinct sense from the other two | 
(God of saints, and God of heathens) | 
must be founded upon the condition | 
of perfect legal obedience as required | 


similar considerations, or apon similar 
terms. 

In the covenant made with Abra- 
ham, and sealed by circumcision, 


heaven was promised. Heaven was- 


therefore promised to Abraham and 
his infant seed in this covenant; for 
heaven was typically promised in the 
promise of Canaan. Temporal inheri- 
tance, or merely national distinction, 
is wholly foreign to God’s design in 
ealling Abraham, and entering into 
covenant with him and his seed. But 
Abraham is called to save the world 
frum universal idolatry, and in four 
centuries his posterity were erected 
into a nation for this primary purpose; 
namely, to teach the unity, spirituality 
and providence of God, and to intro- 
duce a new vocabulary by asymbolice 
worship, to prepare the world for un- 
derstanding the Divine character and 
government preparatory to the mis- 
sion of His Son. 

At the time when Abraham was 


in the Sinaiticcovenant. If not, what | called, idolatry began to appear in 


is the ground upon which God promis- | Chaldea, and at this time families be- 


ed to be their God, that is, Israel’s | gan to have each a family god. Now 
God, in opposition to—God of saints, | when the descendants of Abraham be- 
and God of heathens. If this three-| came numerous and large enough to 
fold distinction be admitted, it must | become a nation and each nation had 
be distinguished too. That God isthe | its own god, it seems to have pleased 
God of the heathen in the lowest sense | the Ruler of the Universe to exhibit 
of the term, I shall not controvert.— ) himself as the God of anation: hence 
But that God promised to be the God | originated the theocracy. God’s de- 
of Abraham and his seed, in_an in- sign in this, seems to have been to 
ferior sense (though all inferior senses | manifest his character, perfections, 
and blessings be included) to that of | purposes, and will, not only to Abra- 
adoption into the family of God by | ham and his literal descendants, but 
faith in Christ Jesus, deny. Though | to all surrounding nations; that all 
Mr. N. be able to prove that God, in| nations might be blessed through 
the Sinaitic covenant promised to be! faithfal Abraham, “to whom the 


20 


promises were made.” And in order 
to manifest His almighty power,—that 
He is the only Lord God omnipotent, 
infinitely exalted-above all gods, and 
to adapt this to the apprehension of 
all nations he chose to speak of Him- 
self in a manner best suited to their 
understanding; hence, He spake of 
himself after the relations, customs, 
and usages then existing among men. 
This will, in a measure, account for 
the appropriate applications of the 
several titles under which God spake 
of Himself; such as, King, Prince, 
Master, Husband, Father, Man of 
War, Lord of Battles, &e., &e. 

At the time when He chose one na- 
tion and manifested Himself to all the 
earth as its King or God, no. other 
hame or type wa8 so well adapted to 
the divine and benevolent purpose as 
the selectionmade. When Israel was 
brought out of Egypt, all the nations 
had their gods; and these gods were 
admired and esteemed according to 
the strength, bravery, dexterity, and | 
prosperity of the nation over which 
they were supposed .to preside; and 
that god was the most adorable in 
human view whose people were most 
conspicuous. Wars and battles were 
the offspring of the spirit of those ages 
contemporaneous with the first five 
hundred years of the Jewish history, 
and with the ages immediately pre- 


ceding. The idea existed, therefore, 
that that nation which was most 


powerful in war had the greatest and 
most adorable god. The Most High 
(a name borrowed from this very age) | 
chose to appear as the Lord of Hosts, 
or God of armies, in order to develop 
Himself and purposes anew to the 
world; and to make His name known 
through all the earth, He took one na- 
tion under His auspices, and appear- 
ed as their Sovereign and Commander 


| in the kingdom of God. 


fae: Israghiegs ul¢ as 
hundred, and ten put a f' yasan 
flight. By the time the Jews wer 
settled in Canaan, the world 
taught to fear the God of Israel, 
Lord of hosts; and so it came to pass 
that all the tree and consistent knowl- 
edge of God upon earth, among all 
nations, was derived directly or in- 
directly from the Jewish people. But 
we must not conclude that one pur- 
pose was only gained, or that one ob- 
ject was exclusively> in any of those 
great movements of the Goyernor of 
the World. This is contrary to the 
general analogy of the material and 
spiritual systems. For, as in the 
vegetable kingdom we haye a sueces- 
sion of stages in the growth of plants; 
as in the animal kingdom we have a 
succession of stages in the growth of 
animals; so in the kingdom of God 
there is a similar progression of light, 
knowledge, life, and-bliss. We have 
in the vegetable kingdom the period 
of germinating, the period of blossom- 
ing, and the period of ripening the 
fruit. So we have infancy, childhood, 
youth, and manhood, in our species.— 
A peculiar treatment in each period 
calls for special influences. ‘So it is. 
It had ‘itsin- 
fancy, its childhood, and its man hood. 
It was diversely exhibited in “each 
stage. The Patriarchal, Jewish, and 
Christian ages were adapted to “ae 
Again, the special temporal favors 
bestowed upon the Jews, are not to be 
considered as indicative that the di- 
vine benevolence was exclusively con- 
fined to one nation to the exclusion of 
all the earth besides. Other consid- 
erations and circumstances require 
these special arrangements. The gen- 
eral good of the human race, and the 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 21 


blessings of all nations in a son of 


Abraham, were the ultimate and gra- 
cious ends in view in all these pecu- 
liar arrangements; so that the calling 
of the Jews and their erection into a 
nation under God’s special govern- 
ment, were but means necessary to 
that reign of divine favor under which 
we now live. In the covenant of cir- 
cumeision infants were included and 
heayen promised. The promise of 
heaven was given typically in the 
promise of Canaan. It was the resi- 
denee of God’s chosen people—a land 
consecrated to the service of God; 
and withont faith it could not be en- 
tered and enjoyed: Whether infants 
could then believe, and enjoy Canaan, 
and can also now believe, and enjoy 
the kingdom of heaven, shall, in our 
future reflections, be more fully 
evinced. 

I affirm then, that as Canaan was 
promised to Abraham and his seed for 
an everlasting possession, it must have 
been given asa typeof heaven. Nat- 
ural descent from Abraham gave no 
title to it. Ishmael and Esau were 
excluded; also the descendants by 
Keturah. The unbelieving offspring 
of Jacob perished in the wilderness. 
They could not enter into Canaan, be- 
cause of unbelief. Heb. 3,19. It 
was, then, a holy land, to be inherited 
by faith. The temple of God was in 
it;—the holy place where He display- 
ed His glory on earth; and there His 
saints worshiped Him, and celebra- 
ted his praises in hymns and spiritu- 
al songs. In all these respects the 
land of Canaan was a typeofheaven; 
hence, the promise of Canaan was 
typically the promise of heaven. 
Again, David’s throne was in Ca- 
naan; and God promised to establish 
his throne forever, and that he should 
“NEVER want a man to sit upon the 


throne of the house of Israel.” 2 
Sam. 1,16; Jer. 33, 17-20 This 
promise has received its fulfillment 
in the Messiah who sits upon David’s 
throne. Isaiah 9,7; Acts 2,30. But 
we perceive that the Messiah’s throne 
is in heaven; this shows that Canaan 
was the type of heaven, and conse- 
quently, that the promise of Canaan 
was the promise heaven. Hence, 
Abraham, in the covenant of cireum- 
cision, which included infants, looked 
for entrance into heaven, both for 
himself and infants, through Canaan 
as a type of heaven. There is, there- 
fore, abundant reason to conelude 
that the covenant of circumcision, 
which included infants, is the eove- 
nant of grace, and that they are yet 
included in the covenant of erace. 

In addition, it may be remarked 
that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob un- 
derstood the promise of Canaan as 
comprising in it the promise of heay- 
en. Through it as a type they sought 
a better. country than their native 
Chaldea, even the heavenly Canaan, 
in which God has prepared for them 
an eternal city, and is not ashamed 
to be called their God. Hence we 
see that the promise of Canaan was 
to Abraham and his seed, the prom- 
ise of heaven. In this sense it was 
pees “an everlasting possession.” 
| There is, therefore, the clearest evi- 
dence that the covenant of circumcis- 
ion is the covenant of grace. Gen. 
| 15,1; Matt. 22, 32; Heb. 11, 8-16. 


———— 


CHAPTER V. 


PRACTICAL AND DESULTORY INFERENCES. 


It is supposed that infants cannot 
‘be benefited by the means of grace, 
“ because they are too young.” It is 
asked: “How can an unconscious 


bo 


babe be benefited by baptism, or by 
the means of grace as offered in the 
New Testament?” “They are too 
young,” &c. But it may be asked, 
how can they be benefited by the 
atonement of Christ? Would they 
not be too young also to be benefited 
by the atonement, if they are too 
young to be benefited by baptism? 
But, why do you talk about the bene- 
fit of baptism at all? since the great- 
er portion of you do not regard it as 
a means of grace in any sense. It is 
a means of regeneration, or it is not. 
If it is not, we can be regenerated and 
saved without it. And if we can be 
saved without it, it is useless to talk 
about it. Contend about a useless 
baptism!! Rey. Webb has almost 
an endless variety of technicalities. 
You call baptism “an outward sign of 
an inward grace,’—‘an emblem,”?— 
“@ representation,” —“ a sign,”—* a 
token,”—“a symbol,”—“a burial,’ —“an 
immersion,”—‘an overwhelming,” — 
“aq dipping.” And Mr. Noel, another 
Baptist writer, calls baptism, ‘an act 
of faith,”—*a consecration to the 
Triune God,”’—“a seeking after God 
with a good conscience,”—* the sign, 
manifestation, and completion of regen- 
eration,’”—‘a death unto sin and a new 
life of holiness.” See Noel on Baptism, 
p. 118. If we except afew of Mr. N.’s 
technicalities, we have enough left 
to meet the demands of the idolatrous 
notions of all popedom. 

Mr. N. says, page 97, “The moral 
change is not effected by baptism, 
but before it.” Notwithstanding on 
page 94, he says: “To be born from 
above (verse 3,) to be born of God 
(John 1, 13; 1 John 3, 9,) to become 
sons of God (John 1, 12; Rom. 8, 14,) 
to be born of the Spirit (John 3, 6, 8,) 
to be born of water and of the Spirit 
(5,) to be born again (1 Pet. 1, 23,) 


2 INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. ~ 


and to be regenerated (Tit. 3, 5,) are 
all phrases which express the same 
thing.” Mr. N. admits that, “to be 
born of water and of the Spirit,” and 
“to be born of the Spirit,” &c., “are 
all phrases which express the same 
thing.” And furthermore, says: “For 
to be born from above must be to be 
born of God, who is above; to be 
born of God is to be a son of God; to 
be born of -God is to be born of the 
Spirit, who is God; to be born of the 
Spirit must be the same thing as to 
be born of water and of the Spirit, 
since the Spirit does not accomplish 
two births from above; and this birth 
of water and of the Spirit must be the 
new birth, or regeneration, because 
this spiritual birth is a new birth, and 
there is no other new birth which 
men experience,” See pages 94 and 
95. This I admit. But Mr. N. after 
establishing this fact, immediately 
labors to prove that “to be born of 
water and of the Spirit,” and “to be 
born of the Spirit,” do not express 
the same thing; in which he flatly 
contradicts himself.) He says: “But 
if our Lord here referred to baptism, 
then he declared that a man is born 
from above by the Spirit and by bap- 
tism.” “How is this to be under- 
stood? Does the Spirit effect the 
regeneration of a person by the water 
of baptism? Many think so.” “In 
baptism,” says a respectable writer 
of our day, “two very different causes 
are combined—the one, God himself; 
the other, a creature which he has 
thought fit to hallow for this end. 

This regeneration is the 
being born of water and of the Spirit, 
or by God’s Spirit again moving on 
the face of the waters, and sanetify- 
ing them for our cleansing, and 
cleansing us thereby.” Tract 67, p. 
13,19. But the idea_is wholly con- 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


23 


trary to Scripture, which declares | more in effect than Mr. N. admits, 
that men are regenerated by the} when he says,—“to be born of the 


Word of God (James 1,18; 1 Pet. 
1,23; John 1,12,13; Gal. 3, 26; 
Eph. 5, 26;) and as distinctly refuted 
by facts, since their ungodly lives 
prove numbers of baptized persons 
to remain unregenerate. See page 96. 
Upon Mr. N.’s hypothesis, his own 
interpretation must be wholly contra- 
ry to Scripture; otherwise, it cannot 
be true, when he says above,—‘“to be 
born of the Spirit must be the same 
thing as to be born of water and of 
the Spirit, since the Spirit does not 
accomplish two births from above; 
and this birth of water and of the 
Spirit must be the new birth, or regen- 
eration, because this spiritual birth is 
a new birth, and there is no other 
new birth which men experience.” 
That not only this portion of Seript- 
ure has reference to baptism with 
water (or as he has it “in water”), 
but also Rom. 6,3; Gal. 3,27; Col. 
Y,125 Mph: 4,5; 1 Pet. 3,21; is 
clearly stated by Mr. N., pages 16, 19, 
22, 23, 281; and various places be- 
sides. In reference to the above 
quotation: “Does the spirit effect the 
regeneration of a person by the water 
of baptism?” Instead of affirming, 
as Mr. N. does, “ Many think so:” I 
answer many think not so. Neither 
does the quotation which he makes 
from the “Tract” say any such thing. 
There is a manifest difference in say- 
ing: “In baptism two very different 
causes are combined—the one, God 
himself; the other, a creature which 
he has thonght fit to hallow for this 
end:” and saying, “that the Spirit 
effects the regeneration of a person 
by the water of baptism;” as though 
the water possesses the regenerating 
influence, in and of itself. I cannot 
perceive that the “Tract” says any 


Spirit (John 3,6, 8;) to be born of 
water and of the Spirit (5),” &e., “are 
all phrases which express the same 
thing.” Can Mr. N. prove that the 
“SPIRIT” does not effect regeneration 
by water in baptism? Is the “Spirit” 
less powerful and energetic, discon-. 
nected with water, than when connect- 
ed? Will Mr. N. prove this? 

It appears that Mr. N. holds forth 
the idea of a two-told new birth, al- 
though he seems to try to convey a 
different idea. He says, p.97: “The 
moral change is not effected by bap- 
tism, but before it} as we know from 
Seripture and from indubitable facts; 
but why then is baptism so necessary 
that Jesus could say, ‘Except a man 
be born of water and of the Spirit, he 
cannot enter into the kingdom of 
God?’ “The answer is obvious. 
Baptism is the profession of faith, 
the public confession of Christ, without 
which confession there is no true 
faith and no salvation.” Answer. 
From what part of divine revelation 
does Mr. N. make it appear that,’ 
“Baptism is the profession of faith 2” 
If Baptism is the profession of faith, 
the profession of faith must be Bap- 
tism; otherwise baptism is not the 
profession of faith; and if both are 
identically the samé, and every one is 
required to make a profession of 
faith before you baptize him, then he 
must be baptized before you baptize 
him, and if he is baptized already in 
that he professes faith in Christ, you 
baptize such as are already baptized, 
then every individual must make two 
professions of faith in order to salva- 
tion, and if two professions, he must 
be baptized twice, and consequently 
there must be two baptisms, and thus 
St. Paul would be contradicted. who 


24 ; INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


says,—‘‘one baptism.” Eph. 4,5. Or 
does Mr. N. baptize without a profes- 
sion of faith previous? He says not. Se 
Pp. 49 and 50. The truth is, an indi- regenerate of the ial is exclusiy ve- 
vidual may make a profession of faith | ly the work of God. Men may be. 
before baptism, and in baptism, but employed to preach, but the work of 
baptism is not a profession of faith. | regenerating a spirit, of giving life to 
When Mr. N. affirms, that “Baptism | a dead soul, the work of the new ere- 
is the profession of faith, the public | ation, is always aseribed to God and 
confession of Christ. without which | to Christ—never to ministers. See 
confession there is no true faith and | Acts 2, 33,47; John 1,13; Tit. 3,5; 
no salvation,” he affirms that which | James 1,18; 1 Pet. 1,3; 1 John 3, 9; 
is in part true, and in part false.| 1 Cor. 3, 5,9; 2 Cor. 5,17; Eph. 2, 1- 
False, in that he says, “baptism is| 5,11, &e.,&c. The ministers of Christ, 
the protession of faith;” and true in| therefore, are here not called to do 
that he affirms that “there is no true | What is exclusively the work of God, 
faith and no salvation,” without See to baptize in the Spirit, but, as their 
tism, at least ordinarily. Now, if} @ppropriate work, to lead those whom 
there can be no true faith ea God has baptized in his Spirit to 
this public confession of Christ, | profess their change of mind by bap- 
(which confession he calls baptism) | tism in water.” 
how can any one be a true believer! Answer. That ministers of Christ 
before, or without baptism? If one | are sent forth to turn many to God, 
can? how is it that he cannot be! and that they are unable to baptize 
without it? Now he either can be, or] with the baptism mentioned, Matt. 
cannot. If he cannot, how can it be ; 3, 11;—regenerate the soul, &c., is 
reguired of him? But it he can, how | admitted; but, that the baptism men- 
is it that he cannot have true ‘taith | tioned, Matt. 3, 11, is the baptism by 
without this profession? which Mr.) which God effects the work of regen- 
N. denominates, baptism. Again, if| eration, is denied. And I also defy 
@ person cannot have true faith with- | Baptists to prove, that under the now 
out baptism, then baptism must be aj Completed dispensation of the New 
means of regeneration, for whosoever | Testament, that regeneration is ef- 
has true faith is regenerated. 1 Joh.| fected ordinarily, through other 
5,1; Gal. 3, 26. means, than the revealed Gospel con- 
Mr. N. calls baptism “an act of} tained in the written Word, and the 
faith.” P.118. If baptism is an act | sacrament of holy baptism. When 
of faith, an act of faith must be bap-| I speak of holy baptism, I mean that 
tism (!!) otherwise baptism cannot be | baptism which was instituted by our 
an act of faith, and if this be true, | Savior shortly after his resurrection, 
there can be no act of faith without | and recorded Matt. 28. From Mr. 
baptism, and if not, baptism is neces-| N.’s language just quoted, it seems 
sary to the existence of faith. that there are two baptisms, one 
Again, Mr. N. says, pp. 19 and 20:| through which the regeneration of 
“Hike John, the ministers of Christ | the soul is effected, and the other, in 
to the end of time are sent forth to| water, by which regeneration is com- 
turn many to God (Luke 1, 16;) but, ' pleted : see also pp. 118 and 113, where 


ee Oe 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. ' 25 


-he says: “The Spirit imparts new j 


life, and baptism manifests it; and 
both complete the new birth. As a 
child first lives and then comes into 
the world, and thus is born, his en-, 
trance into the world not giving lite, 
but manifesting it, so the child of 
God receives life and then is baptized 
and thus is new born, his baptism not 
giving spiritual life, but manifesting 
it; and therefore baptism is the 
washing of regeneration, or the wash- 
ing which is the manifestation and 
completion of regeneration. By these 
two things, the washing and the re- 
newing, the Spiritual renovation and 
the baptism which manifests it, God 
saves his people—John 3, 5, declares, 
that no one can enter the kingdom of 
heaven, that is, be saved, unless he is 
new born by the Holy Spirit and by 
baptism.” Answer. Every discerning 
mind must perceive that there is a 
great deal of human invention prac- 
ticed in the above. There is not the 
least propriety in comparing the spir- 
itual birth with the natural. It is 
unbecoming the dignity of the divine 
subject. Most ridiculous and unfor- 
tunate comparison!! Mr. Webb, in 
his “BAPTIST APOLOGY,” pp. 20 and 


21, in hisexplanation of John 3, 5, is, 
if any difference, a little more gross, 
at least in phraseology, than Mr. N., 
although the two BROTHERS explain 
the same text differently. Mr. W., 
the water as having reference to the 
natural birth (!!!), and Mr. N., to water 
baptism, making our Savior teach the 
doctrine of two distinct baptisms in 
the same text. Mr. W. says, p. 21: 
“Then it has nothing to do with bap- 
tism at all: but if any ask what is 
meant by being born of water, I an- 
swer, natural birth. Let obstetrics 
explain the rest.” 


Most abominable : 


stuff. 


Indeed, there are two things men- 
tioned in John 3,5; but there are no 
two baptisms mentioned there, one 
separately, of the Spirit, and the 
other, of water; the first to correspond 
with Matt. 3,11, and the other with 
Matt. 28. The plain truth is, the wa- 
ter and the Spirit are connected, so 
as only to constitute one baptism, 
for water alone is no baptism. The 
Christian baptism is a unit. I chal- 
lenge Christendom to produce one 
text to prove that regeneration is ef- 
fected by the Holy Ghost, and fire. 
Where in all divine revelation is it 
said, “Kxcept a man be born of the 


Holy Ghost, and fire, that he cannot ~ 


enter into the kingdom of God?” 
There is nothing of this in all the Bi- 
ble.. Our blessed Savior says, “Ex- 
cept a man be born of water, and of 
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
kingdom of God.” Jobn 3, 5. In 
this text we perceive that regenera- 
tion is mentioned as the result of the 
baptism performed with water. The 
question is not whether there ever 
was a baptism of the Holy Ghost, and 
fire; but whether regeneration is ef- 
fected by it. It appears, that because 
there was such an extraordinary bap- 
tism predicted, Mr. N. (as well as ma- 
ny others) concludes that it must be 
the only baptism by which regenera- 
tion is eftected ; notwithstanding, it 


is not so much as once mentioned as. 


effecting regeneration; and goes to 
work, and invents a work for this 
baptism to perform, contrary to the 
Word of God: and in his fruitful im- 
agination, to debar infants from bap- 
tism, invents a two-fold regeneration, 
a two fold baptisin, a two-fold profes- 
sion of faith; one before baptism, 
which itself is baptism, according to 
his view, that is, the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost, and _of fire, (Matt. 3, 11;) 


that is, the watery part of the text, | tion of faith,” and if an pei 
John 3,5; and Matt. 28,19; 1 Pet. 3,'is not manifested without it, and if. 


21, &e., ino last quoted toxin ac- 


there can be no true faith a cigar 


bonis to Mr. N., set forth the water | this manifestation, how can you know 


baptism which is necessary to “com- 
plete” regeneration (!!); for, he says, 
“The Spirit effects a moral change,” 
_ that is, the Holy Ghost baptism, 
- Matt. 3,11, does this; “and baptism 
is the sign of it,” that is, the water 
baptism mentioned, Matt. 28,19; 1 


Pet. 3, 21, &c., and the watery part of 


John 3,5; for Mr. N. understands 
this text as revealing two baptisms, 


one of the Spirit, and the other of 


water. 
of St. Paul, Eph. 4,5: “One Lord, 
one faith, one baptism.” But sup- 
pose Paul was mistaken, and that 
there are two baptisms, in the Chris- 
tian Church, the one, of the Holy 
Ghost, and fire, which “imparts new 
life” and makes them disciples, 
though not yet born,(!!) yet at the 
same time “born from above,” (!!) yet 
not “completed,” without water bap- 
tism, as it is called, “which is the 
manifestation and completion of re- 
generation; which water “baptism 
is the profession of faith, the public 
confession of Christ, without which 
confession there is no true faith and 
no salvation,’—p. 97; if this bap- 
tism with water is the true profession 
of faith, and if there cannot be a true 
faith without water baptism, you 
ought not to baptize any one till he 
has true faith, (for, you say, “baptism 
is an act of faith,’”) and that he can- 
not have true faith without it, you 
should by no means baptize any one 
till he manifests faith, and as water 
baptism 


How unlike to the language | 


| 


| whom to baptize before they manifest 
faith, that is, before they are baptized 
with water, and thus receive the 
“sign of regeneration,” and if so, why 
not baptize infants, although they 
have no sign of regeneration; and 
not only so, they are just as capable 
of this sign of regeneration as the 
adult, since the adult can have, and 
has as little authority and power to 
baptize himself as the infant, it mat- 
ters not whether you please to speak 
ot “the baptism of the Holy Ghost, 
and of fire,” or of “water baptism.” 

For, although, it be admitted, that 
“This baptism in the Spirit, which is 
the regeneration of the soul, is exclu- 
sively the work of God,” as you say, 
(p. 19) it, however, only more clearly 
follows that the infant is just as eapa- 
ble of the regeneration of the soul as 
the adult, for both the Adult and In- 
fant are passive in obtaining spiritual 
life. 
The blind notion, as cntewcien 
not only by Mr. N. but by others also, 
who suppose that infants are too 
young, and unconscious thus to ob- 
tain divine life, or regeneration, or if 
you please, say faith, leads many to 
think, that age, or years of maturity, 
is necessary to aid God in bestowing 
divine grace which accomplishes this 
radical change. 

It is just as reasonable to believe 
the doctrine of infant regeneration, 
or faith, as to believe the doctrine of 
infant resurrection. It might be ask- 


° -¢ . o . ors 
“is the manifestation of | ed, how can an unconscious dead in- 


faith;” you ought to baptize no one ; ‘fant rise from the grave ? 


with Gatos until he is baptized ead 
water, and thus “manifests faith.” 


We might with the same propriety 
say, it is not possible for them to rises 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


as to say they cannot pass from spir- 
itual death to spiritual life. I have 
already proven that infants are de- 
praved,—that they are spiritually 
dead. Is not the adult precisely in 
the same condition? Yes, verily, this 
has already been proven. Now upon 
the very same principle that you 
prove the impossibility of infant re- 
generation, upon the same principle 
will [ prove the impossibility of their 
resurrection. The soul of the infant, 
is nO more unconscious in regenera- 
tion, than that of the adult, for they 
are both dead in sin by nature: Rom. 
5,12; Hph. 2,1. But Baptists, as 
well as many others, say, infants are 
not capable of faith, although, some 
who practice infant baptism, baptize 
them notwithstanding. : 

Relative to the household baptisms 
as recorded in the Scriptures, Bap- 
tists conclude that there were no in- 
fants in those households, because, it 
is recorded: “ He rejoiced, believing 
in God with all his house,”—Acts 
16, 34; “A> devout man, and one 
that feared God with all his house,” 
—Acts 10, 2; “So the father knew 
that if was at the same hour in which 
Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth, 
and himself believed and his whole 
house,’”—John 4,53; “Crispus, the 
chief ruler of the synagogue, believed 
in the Lord with all his house, ”— 
Acts 18,8. From the fact that it is 
said, they “ believed,”—“ rejoiced,” it 
is supposed that there were no in- 
fants baptized in these households, 
as though infants could neither re- 
joice, nor believe. Is it not said, Luke 
1, 44: “For lo! as soon as the voice 
of thy salvation sounded in mine ears, 
the babe leaped in my womb for joy.” 
But the spirit of infanticide and infi- 
delity will bawl out, and say, this is 
an extraordinary occasion. Suppose 


| he be an adult or an infant. 


27 


we admit it to be an extraordinary 
occasion, it, nevertheless, is proof 
sufficient to refute your objection, 


‘when you say, “they cannot,’”— it is 


impossible for them to REJOICE, BE- 
LIEVE,” &c. The text declares that — 
the babe leaped for joy. Now, if an 
embryo could rejoice, why conclude, 
that an infant, when it is born, ean- 
not rejoice. Upon the very same 
principle, that you prove it impossible, 
for infants already born to rejoice, I 
will prove that John, whilst an emt 
bryo, could not leap for joy; and thus 
outwit the word of God, and limit 
him in his power. Sie 

Furthermore, an unregenerated 
person or an unbeliever cannot ren- 
der perfected praise to God, whether 
“God is 
a spirit: and they that worship him, 
must worship him in spirit and in 
truth,”—John 4, 24; “for the Fa- 
ther seeketh such to worship him,” 
V. 23.. But the. natural man receiv- 
eth not the things of the Spirit of 
God: for they are foolishness unto 
him; neither can he know them, be- 
cause they are spiritually discerned,” 
—1 Cor. 2, 14; see Rom. 8, 6, 7, 8; 
John 3, 6. 

Now, as all persons in a state of 
nature, whether infant or adult, are 
destitute of the spirit, it is evident, 
that neither adult nor infant can wor- 
ship God in Spirit and in truth pre- 
vious to regeneration; for, with. 
out faith it is impossible to please 
him.” Heb. 11,6. If, without faith, 
it is impossible to please God, it is 
evident that no one, whether adult 
or infant, can render acceptable 
praises to God in his natural or un- 
believing state. But Jesus Christ 
claims to have received “perfected 
praise out of the mouths of babes and 
sucklings.” “Yea: have ye never 


28 


read, Out of the mouth of babes and 


sucklings thou hast perfected praise.” | appeal to these texts to j 
Matt. 21,16. Nyzwy, translated babes, | loud meetings must be in yain. as) 
will you prove that there were no in- 
{fants included in those household 


from +7 not and exw to speak) (an infant, 
child, babe) signifies such as were too 
young to articulate words or phrases ; 
(the German, “unmundigen”) yet by 


the approach of the sacred person of 


Jesus Christ to Jerusalem, the divine 


influeace of the immaculate Son of 


God enabled these (“‘unmundigen’’) 
non-aged ones to ery with Seraphic 
strains: “Hosanna to the Son 
David.” 

The word, %97alovrwy, sucklings, fem. 
pl. par. pres. of %Aafw, (from jy the 
nipple) (to milk, give, or yield milk; 
to suckle, nurse on the breast; to 
suck, draw milk,) evidently implies 
that they were very young. 

But the spirit of opposition will ery 
out: “This was an extraordinary oc- 
casion.” Suppose it was. Does it 
therefore prove that it is impossible 
for infants to render perfected praise ? 
Does it prove that they could render 
perfected praise in a state of nature? 
By no means. Is not this an extra- 
ordinary occasion too, when yon ap- 


peal to the Jerusalem approach of 


Christ, as recorded in this same chap- 
ter, and its parallels, to establish the 
propriety of your noisy meetings? 
But do the little babes at their moth- 
er’s breast, (which are »j not and exw 
to speak) which cannot, in conse- 
quence of their extreme infancy, ar- 
ticulate words or phrases, also ery, 
“Hosanna to the Son of David’? 
Until we see your infants, on your 
great revival meetings, cry out, “Ho- 
sanna to the Son of David,” notwith- 
standing all your pretensions to devo- 
tion divine, and claims to have been 
compelled through the influence of 
the Spirit to cry out, we shall be 


bound to conclude that you are not 


of 


| similarly affected, and th é 


| baptisms, from the facets declared,— 
|feared God with all his house,”— 
“He rejoiced, believing in God with 
all his house,” &e. 
greater divine power to regenerate 


if you can, that either adult or infant 


dent to regeneration : 
infants above mentioned must have 
been regenera and as no one is 


as 10 ibelueea whether infant or 
adult, can render “perfected praise,” 


it must follow that these infants were — 


regenerated, hence believers. Upon 


the very same principle that our Bap- | 
tist friends prove the absurdity and 


impossibility of infant faith and re- 
generation, hence of their ‘ rejoicing,’ 


and even rendering “ perfected praise,” 


which is more than we read of in 
Holy Writ concerning adults, I will 
prove the absurdity and impossibility 
of adult faith and regeneration. An 


unbelieving, unregenerated child ren- - 
| dering perfected praise!!! 
When the disciples rejoiced (Matt. . 


21; Luke 19) “saying, Hosanna to 
the Son of David! Blessed is he that 
cometh in the name of the Lord; Ho- 
sanna in the highest!” the babes and 
sucklings also eried “ Hosanna to the 


Son of David.” Isit therefore absurd 
to conelude, or is it impossible to: ar- 
rive at a safe conclusion touching the 
household baptisms, that there were 
infants composing apart of the house- 
holds, even which ‘rejoiced,’ ‘believed,’ 
&c? Please prove, if you can, that it 
is impossible for infants to believe, to 


an infant, than-to grant it the powers — 
of rendering “perfected praise.” Prove, 


It requires no 


can render “ perfected praise” antece- — 
The babes or — 
aia teat. tal 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


29 


be regenerated, to rejoice, to render 
perfected praise. Yet I deny that 
either adults or infants possess any 
such powers in a state of nature. You 
may ask a thousand times, how can 
an infant believe? I will reply, how 
can an adult believe? After you have 
asked the thousand times, ask again, 
how can these things be, I will answer 
in the language of Christ: “The wind 
bloweth where it listeth, and thou 
hearest the sound thereof, but canst 
not tell whence it-.cometh, and whither 
it goeth: so is every one that is born 
of the Spirit.” 

“At the same time came the disci- 
ples unto Jesus, saying, Whois the 
greatest in the kingdom of heaven ? 
And Jesus called a little (xadw:) 
child unto him, and sat him in the 
midst of them, and said, Verily I say 
unto you, Hxcept ye be converted, ; 
and become as little (za:dca) children, 
ye shall not enter into the kingdom 
of heaven. Whosoever therefore 
shall humble himself as this little 
(zazdwy) child, the same is greatest in 
the kingdom of heaven. And whoso 
shall receive one such little (za:dtov) 
child in my name, receiveth me. 
But whoso shall offend one of 
these (pzpwv) little ones which be- 
lieve in me, it were better for him 
that a millstone were hanged about 
his neck, and that he were drowned 
inthe depth of the sea.” Matt. 18, 
1-6. 

Pa:dioy (a neuter diminutive of zai-) | 
means, an infant, a babe: zadcwv can- 
not, therefore, mean a child, even as 
far advanced in life, as the word za:0. 
This zacdw» must have been an infant, 
in age and stature, emphatically. 
Pad, achild, though never used to 
signify a person at years of maturity, 
(except in some sense to express 
those in an inferior relation, as ser- 


vant, attendant, slave, &c.,) may, not- 
withstanding, signify a very young 
child. But, zacdcov, which is a dimi- 
nutive in w or wy, signifies, most em- 
phatically, an infant, or babe, both in 
age and stature ; as emphatically so, 
as Tovioy (a neuter diminutive of yovy, 
a woman,) signifies a little woman, 
and by no means a large one; except 
it may be in some inferior sense; as, 
silly woman, &e. 

Mr. N. throughout his book, (as 
well as Baptists in general) denies 
the possibility of infant faith, regen- 
eration, rejoicing, &e. But, dear 
reader, which will you believe, the 
Baptists, or Jesus Christ, who de- 
clares that they do believe ? 

The general reply of the Baptist 
friends is, that the Savior has refer- 
ence to weak believers and not to lit- 
tle children. To this I reply, that it 
is not only obvious that the language 
will not admit of such a construction, 
but it must be observed, that this 
false construction will prove ruinous 
to the whole tenor of the text. as well 
as to the progression in the work of 
sanctification. Where is the author- 
ity for saying that our Savior had 
reference to “weak believers?” I 
suppose that if we were to ransack 
the deluded brain of some of the hos- 
tile Baptist ministers, we might find 
it there. To carry out the position 
of the Baptists, it will be necessary 
to make our Savior say, he called a 
little weak Weliever unto him, and set 
him in the midst of them, and said, 
Verily I say unto you, Except ye be 
converted, and become as little weak 
believers, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven. Whosoever 
therefore shall humble himself as 
this little weak believer, the same 
is the greatest in the kingdom of 
heaven. And whoso shall receive 


30 


one such little weak believer in my | will be counted for it. 


name, receiveth me. But whoso 
shall offend one of these little weak 
believers which believe in me, it were 
better, &c. Such nonsense must be 
attributed to the language of Christ 
to satisfy the mad infidelity of those 
infant baptism despising spirits. “In- 
fants are not capable of faith,’ says 
the Baptist. But Christ teaches the 
reverse. He afiirms that they  be- 
lieve in him. 

There is no more impropriety in 
saying that infants are incapable of 
salvation than that they are incapable 
of faith or regeneration: and as Bap- 
tists deny the possibility of infant 
faith and regeneration, they must de- 
ny the possibility of infant salvation, 
or teach the absurd doctrine, that 
they enter heaven in their unregen- 
erated state. 

Upon the principle that Baptists 
exclude infants from baptism they 
shut them up in the prison of hell 
forever. The Baptists (as well as 
many others) say infants cannot be- 
lieve. The Scriptures say, “he that 
believeth not shall be damned.” 

How will you prove their salva- 
tion ? Or will you make an exception 
to the Seriptural rule of admittance 
into heaven? and say faith is only 
required of adults; then the rule has 
exceptions. How many exceptions 
then has the rule? Upon the very 
same ground that you.make excep- 
tions to the rule, to bring infants to 
heaven; may we not make exceptions 
to the rule to bring them to baptism ? 

Say you, infants are not fit sub- 
jects for baptism, for the want of | 
faith and repentance; may we not 
reply, infants are not fit subjects for 
heaven, for the want of the very 
same ? 

Some of you say the want of faith 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. — ue 


How will you | 
prove this? How can infants be 
saved? You say they cannot have 
faith. Will they be saved without 
faith ? I defy you to prove it. Do 
not come with your thoughts and 
opinions. Produce Seripture for it: 
“A thus saith the Lord, infants shall 
be saved without faith.”—“The want 
of faith is counted for faith:” pro- 
duce some testimony of this kind if 
you can. Please show that it is more 
Seriptural to conelude that infants 
shall attain to salvation without faith — 
than through faith. Produce a text 
that says, “infants cannot believe.” 
Please show a text that says if is im- 
possible for infants to “rejoice’—ren-- 
(ler “perfected praise.” Please prove 
their capability of an interest in the 
atonement of Christ without faith. 

The Baptists may ridieule the idea 
of infant faith as much as they please, — 
they can never upset the language of 
Christ, which is against them. These 
vain Baptist ministers, who are puffed 
up with pride, ready to burst, claim 
their superiority to infants, and con- 
tradict the obvious intention of 
Christ. Matt. 18. 

{ come now to ask my Baptist 
friends, who is the greatest in the 
kingdom of heaven? Mr. Noel, pp. 
216 and 219, excludes infants entirely. 
Who then is the greatest in the king- 
dom of heaven? It might be sup- 
posed, Mr. N. and Baptists in gener- 
al, they being judges. For Mr. N., 
a famous and much beloved Baptist, 
hath excluded infants entirely. 

He says, page 214: “The expres- 
sion ‘of such is the kingdom’—rwy» — 
Bacdztca—means, not 
that the kingdom is composed of 
such, but that it belongs to such, it 
is theirs.” He acknowledges the 
following passages exactly parallel : 


Towwutwy zoTy 7 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBER SHIP—BAPTISM. 


Matt. 5, 3-10; 
Again, he says: “The persons indi- 
eated by the word ‘such,’ are those 
who, through grace, are childlike per- 
sons, such as little children are, and 
not the children themselves. This is 
shown by the word ‘such,’ tocutoc, 
in the following passages: ‘With 
many such parables, i. e., parables 
like these, spake he the word unto 
them,’ Mark 4,33. ‘Many other such 
like things ye do,’” Mark 7, 8, 13, 
&e. 
According to Mr. N., “such” does 
not designate little children, but 
adults who resemble them in spirit. 
In this event, why did Christ wish 
little children to be brought to him? 
Could he not have taught without 
their presence, that adults of a child- 
like disposition were the subjects of 
his kingdom? Our Lord’s language, 
paraphrased, according to this expo- 
sition, would read: Suffer little chil- 
dren to come unto me, for my king- 
dom does not belong to them, but 
only to adult persons who resemble 
them in spirit!! It would not have 
been more absurd for him to have 
said: Suffer doves and lambs to come 
unto me, for my kingdom consists 
not of them, but of adults of dove-like 
and lamb-like dispositions. * Such” 
stuff (i. e. stuff like this, but not the 
stuff itself!!!) needs no refutation. 
“Such” a book (i. e., a book like Mr. 
N.’s, but not the book itself!!!) ought 
to be burned. Verily, it ought to be 
burned to ashes, the very book itself. 
Adults “receive the kingdom of 
God as little children.” Luke 18, 17; 
Mark 10,15. “Whosoever shall not 
receive the kingdom. of God as a lit- 
tle child, he shall not enter therein.” 
Now if the little child does not re- 
ceive the kingdom of heaven, the 
adult does not; but if the adult does 


i 


Matt. 6, 14, &c. | 


® 
ol 


not receive it as the little child, he 
“shall in no wise enter therein.” But 
if the child’s receiving, only consists 
in resemblance, and not in reality a 
real receiving of the kingdom, the 
adult’s is not real, for the adult. must 
receive’it as the little child, or not 
enter at all. The language of the 
Seriptures is too conclusive to be 
drowned by your criticism on the 
word “such.” He who receives any 
thing as I do, must receive it as I do, 
and if he cannot receive it in a way 
different from me (and in case he at- 
tempts it he shall fail) and in case I 
only receive it in resemblance, so 
;must he, otherwise he does not re- 
ceive it as I do. When ever you 
shall have proven that the infant on- 
ly receives the kingdom in resem- 
blance and notin reality, and that 
the adult receives it in reality, and 
yet as the child, although the child 
does not receive it at all; (for accord- 
ing to your interpretation, the king- 
dom does not belong to children, and, 
Se course, they cannot receive that 
which does not belong to them, un-_ 
less they would steal it, and then it 
would not belong to them) you will 
have an argument formidable, indeed, 
to infants. 


In reference to the above texts, with 
others, which Mr. N. has quoted, he 
says: “In all these cases the word 
‘such,’ with or without the article, 
does not mean the persons or things 
previously spoken of, but persons or 
things like them, including them or 
not as the case may be. _ Hence in this 
text, the word ‘such’ must mean per- 
sons like children, not the children 
themselves.” Observe, he says, “in- 
cluding them or not, as the case may 
be.” Then they may be included ; 
and if they may be included, then they 
may not be excluded, otherwise they 


7 
32 


may be included or excluded, just as 
a Baptist wills. Again, as a speci- 
men of exclusion, Mr. N. quotes: 
“With many such parables, i. e., par- 
ables like these, spake he the word 
unto them,” Mark 4,33. But, accord- 
ing to Mr. N., this parable should be 
excluded from the Word ot God, for 
Christ did not speak the word in this 
parable, for in “all these cases the word 
‘such, with or without the article, 
does not mean the persons or things 


wreviously spoken of, but persons or | 
I ny: ; 


things like them.” Of course, accord- 
ing to Mr. N.’s criticism, we can ex- 
clude this parable from the Word of 
God with the same propriety that he 
excludes infants from the kingdom of 
heaven! Again: “ Many other such 
like things ye do,” Mark 7, 8, 138. 
But, according to Mr. N., the Pharisees 
and Seribes were not guilty of,—“lay- 
ing aside the commandments of God,” 
and holding the traditions of men— 
Making the Word of God of none ef- 
fect, &e. Oh!, No! For: “In all 
these cases the word ‘such’ with or 
without the article does not mean the 
persons or things previously spoken 
of, but persons or things like them.” 
Of course the Pharisees and Scribes 
were not guilty of doing the things 
themselves (!!!) of which they were 
accused, but only “such” things, i. e., 
things like them!!! I wonder what 
things they were! 

Again, “Moses in the law command- 
ed us that such, (Mr. N. adds) zac 
Totavtac, persons of this character, 
should be stoned,” John 8,5. <Ac- 
cording to Mr. N.’s criticism, the 
Seribes and Pharisees did not under- 
stand Moses in the law as requiring 
that this woman (taken in the very 
act of adultery) should be stoned, for, 
“In all these cases the word ‘such’ 
with or without the article does not 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. eer 


‘mean the persons or things previous- 
ly spoken of, but persons or things 
like them.” But can we conclude mh 
that the Seribes and Pharisees did 
not understand Moses as requiring 
| this woman to be stoned! But you 
| will plead “including them or not, as 
the case may be.” “As the case may 
be”! Answer: In all the eases you 
have given it isrequired that “the per- 
sons or things previously spoken of,” — 
be included, both to do the sacred 
text justice, and to save your book 
from perdition. But your book ean- 
not be saved by the phrase,—“inelud- 
ing them or not, as the case may be ;” 
for, it is too manifestly clear, that you 
introduced these texts, as specimens 
to show that the word “such” “does 
not mean the persons or things pre- 
viously spoken of, but persons or 
things like them,” that is, in the text, 
“tor of such is the kingdom of heay- 
en.” But the specimens you haye 
given require an inclusion instead of 
an exclusion, and therefore your _ 
straw, fixed (I mean your phrase, “in- 
cluding them or not, as the ease may 
be,”) to cateh at, in case you might 
likely be drowned, disappears to be 
seen no more. You should have giyen 
Specimens (if you could) that would 
have excluded “the persons or things 
previously spoken of.” But, no doubt, 
you saw that this could not be done, 
| and therefore stick up a straw, if pos- 
sible, under its shade, to pass your 
irrelevant quotations upon the read- 


er as proof that infants are excluded 
from the kingdom of heaven. Such 
irrelevance, (i. e., irrelevance like 
this(!!) but not the irrelevance it- 
self (!!!) however, “including it or 
not, as the case may be (!!), might do 
as patching for Mr. Webb’s twenty- 
Jive-barreled-great-baptismal-gun ; or, in 
his own language,—“the twenty-five 


barrels of my great baptismal gun, 
that I keep in battery, to open upon 
Pedobaptists,” &c. See “Webb’s Bap- 


tist Apology,” p. 46. 
I confess that his twenty-five bar- 


reled baptismal gun, (that is, the con- 
struction he puts on the texts) makes 
considerable noise when it heaves out 
its contents in a neighborhood, for it 
is filled with almost an inconceivable 
quantity of wind and ashes: I know 
this to be a fact, for [ stood four days 
(Mr. Webb says 7 


bitvrrsd 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


days: see his} are blessed.” 


ae 
33 


It may do for one who is crazy to ex- 
clude infants from the kingdom of 
heaven. But why does he say, “Suf- 
fer them to come ?” Is it because they 
possess the dispositions required for 
admittance into heaven? Mr. N.says, 
p. 218: “Little children are humble and 
dependent, teachable and patient of 


| reproof, simple, free from art ; such are 


the dispositions which Christ requires 
in his disciples, which grace imparts 
to them, and in having which they 
Furthermore he says, 


Apology, p. 12,) right at the shooting | p. 219: “But as adults obtain these 


ends, and the wind and ashes came in 
such torrents from his gun as to re- 


mind historians of the bursting of 


Etna, Vesuvius, and I confess, that 
there was some smoke and probably 
some little fire mingled with it, so as 
to eclipse even the Word of God, in a 
manner the most satan-like. We 


this gun now; and willretreat for the 
present, and go to the fortification of 
God’s imperishable Word. 

Well, I have not only proven the 


dispositions through regenerating 
grace and they are the evidences of 


| faith and godliness, while little chil- 


dren have them naturally, without 
faith or godliness, they cannot of 
themselves prove that children pos- 
sess the kingdom of heaven, because, 
with all their temperg toward their 
parents and others, they are still, 
‘by_nature, children of wrath” Eph. 
2.” Answer: From this it seems, “lit- 
tle children are humble and depend- 
ent, teachable and patient of reproof, 


possibility of infant faith, but that | simple, free from art;” and yet at the 
they do believe. I do not say that | same time, “children of wrath.” He 
infants in a state of nature are be-| says, ‘little children have these dis- 
lievers, neither are they holy in that | positions naturally—but adults ob- 
state. But the language of Christ is, | tain these through regenerating grace, 
“Suffer the little children to come | and they are the evidences of taith 
unto me, and forbid them not, for of | and godliness.” Mr. Noel! you are 


have not the time fully te describe 
: 


his kingdom previous to their coming | sitions naturally,” you say; but adults 
to him. But he says: “Suffer them | obtain them through regenerating 
to come, and forbid them not, for of | grace. Well, then, Mr. N.! little 
such is the kingdom of God.” Why children, naturally possess that which 
does he say suffer them tocome? Mr. | adults obtain through regenerating 
N. would answer, becauseadults who | grace! If so, indeed, are not little 
are like children are the subjects of ; children, then, naturally in a more 
his kingdom!!! P.218. Could this be | favorable state, to obtain the grace of 
any reason why infants should come? regeneration, than the adult? I do not, 


34 


however, contend that little children 
naturally possess the dispositions al- 
luded to. But Mr. N. is challenged 
to prove it. “God giveth grace to 
the humble.” 1 Pet. 5,5. But the 
adult is not naturally humble, but the 
infant is, according to Mr. N. Is not 
the infant, therefore, in a more favor- 


able condition to obtain the grace of 


regeneration, than the adult ? 
According to Mr. N.’s logie, the in- 
fant, which is humble, ee &e., 
naturally, isnot as capable of regener- 
ation, as the adult, who is naturally 
destitute of these dispositions. <As- 
tonishing, indeed! “God giveth grace 
to the humble.” 1 Pet. 5,5. “The 
infant is humble,” theretore God giveth 
it grace. But, according’ to Mr. N., 
we must say, “God giveth grace to 
the humble,” “the infant is humble,” 
therefore God does not give it grace. 


According to his logic, the humble 
are not capable of grace, but the 


adult, who is not humble naturally, is 
capable of it !!! 

Mr. N. says: 
dispositions through 


“adults obtain these 
regenerating 


grace, and they are the evidences of 


faith and godliness, while little ehil- 
dren have them naturally, without 
faith or godliness.” Well, then I will 
ask: If little children have these dis- 
positions naturally, how does it come 
that they lose them when they arrive 
at years of maturity? or do they not 
lose them? If they do not lose them, 
but retain them, how can they obtain 
that which they already have? But 
if they have lost them, then they must 
obtain them again through regenera- 
tion, and inthis way get back again 
in the same state in which they were 
during infaney, only that now they 
have faith first, “and these disposi- 
tiong are the evidences of faith ;” but 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


during infaney they were evidences | 


that they had them nanan: 


faith, (!!) according to Mr. } Ns non- 
sense. I wonder whether one, who 


has faith, and as an evidence of ‘it, 
has humility, &c., is like one who has 


no faith but has humility naturally ? () 
Two objects of greater dissimilarity — 
we could not easily think of, yet ac | 


cording to Mr. N. (as well as others) 
we must make these two dissimilar 
objects alike, that is, the unregenera- 
ted adult must be converted, and be- 
comé Tike an_ unr uregencrated. unbeliev- 
ing infant. Sach nonsense cannot be 
interred from the language of Christ. 
T question if the most carnal Jew, 


that ever sat in the region of dark-— 


ness and shadow of death, could have 
given a more frigid, degrading inter- 


pretation of the language of Christ, 


than Mr. N. has done. 


I do not now venture to affirm that- 


when Christ said, “Suffer the little 
children to come unto me and forbid 
them not, for of such is the kingdom 
of God,” that he then baptized them ; 


but as their church-membership had 


long been settled, I intend only in 
this place to show, that our Lord 
speaks of them under the idea, as the 
acknowledged members of the chureh 
of God; and that their membership 
was never annulled to the present day. 

The sun total of the Baptist force 
against infant baptism centers in the 
two following sophistieal arguments ! 
First, “Whoever has a right to any 
positive ordinance, must be mention- 
ed expréssly, as having that right; 
but infants are not so mentioned, 
with respect to baptism: therefore 
infants are not to be baptized.” 
Secondly, “The Scriptures require 
faith and repentance, in order to bape 
tism; but infants have neither faith 
nor repentance: therefore infants 
are not proper subjects for baptism.” 


ee 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


These were the standpoints of Mr. 
Webb, the “Wandering Pilgrim,” 
against me at Lincolnton, when con- 
troverting the proper subjects for 
baptism: And these two sophisms 
are the heartstrings of Mr. Noel in 
his book against infant baptism, 
though not thrown precisely in the 
same syllogistic form: and as far as 
I have read and ever heard, they are 
the mainsprings in the whole “Bap- 
tist-gun’ against infants. 

In reference to the first, that there 
is no express command or example 
for baptizing infants, I answer, that 
there is no express command or ex- 
ample for female communion; and 
“Whoever has a right te any positive 
ordinanee must be expressly imen- 
tioned, as having that right;’ but 
females are not so mentioned, with 
respect to the Lord’s Supper; there- 
fore females have no right to com- 
mune. Now, if the argument is good 
when it excludes infants from bap- 
tism; it is good too when it excludes 
females from the communion, And 
then the Baptists would be right in 
refusing to baptize infants; but 
would at the same time be wrong in 
admitting females to the Lord’s Sup- 
per. But it matters not for a Bap- 


tist, if he can only succeed in exclud- 


ing infants from baptism, even if his 
sophistical reasoning eats him up. 
Mr. Webb’s reply to me in the dis- 
cussion at Lincolnton, in his detence 
of female communion, affirmed: “ We 
have just as good preof for female com- 
munion, as you have for infant bap- 
tism.? (1!!!) To whieh ‘1. readily| & 
agreed; andreminded him of the fact, 
that they acknowledge their inferen- 
tial testimony in favor of female com- 
munion to be good, and that consist- 
ency, according to his own acknowl- 
edgment, would bind him, in direct 


ye a eee ee ee Aa Fem oe es ome ee 


35 


terms, to affirm the titlé of infants to 
baptism to be good too. But a deep 
blush is all the affirmation that his 


deceitful heart could afford, till he 


recovered a little from his own death 
blow, and reeled in his intoxicated 
position, and staggered right up to 
inferential testimony, and embraced 
it and put it forth as “express war- 
rants,” “express commands and ex- 
amples,” &c. And what do you sup- 
pose was his refuge? Why, he went 
to the inferential waters, of which he 
drank so freely, that an intelligent 
Pedobaptist might readily conelude 
that he would get sober, or burst. 
And burst, he did, after I drove the 
hoops. 

Well, where did he go for an ex- 
press warrant for female communion ? 
Why, he went to 1 Cor.11, 28. “But 
let a man (a0pwxos) examine himself, 
and so let him eat of that bread, and 
drink of that cup.” Now says he, 
“Ayyn is used by classical writers as a 
specific term, and ayOpwror as a genere 
ic term; and it often stands as a 
name of our species, without regard 
to sex: Therefore females are includ- 
ed in the command, “let a@ man (a- 
%pwros) examine himselt,” &c. 


Answer: Where is the explicit- 
ness? In what part of the above is 
that express command? Where is 
the “thus saith the Lord”? females 
shall commune? Is it in—“ Avyp is 
used by classical writers as a specif- 
ic?” and w0pwxus as a generic term ?” 
—“ Often stands,” (1!!!) “classical wri- 
man bi “AvOpwroz often stands,” 

(!!!) Is not the English word 
oe ds in thesame way? But it 
seems to be all right if deception can 
be practiced by a Greek word. “Oft- 
en stands.” Not always. Now, when 
is it an explicit word for females? 
When it “often stands ?” Not always!! 


=e 


36 


Poor, mad, blinded, intoxicated, self- 
willed, prevaricating Baptist. “By 
classical writers!” But why not by 
ecclesiastical writers? Answer: I 
suppose it would not be quite so ex- 
plicit. What? Not quite so explicit ? 
No, indeed. What? Do ecclesiastic- 
al writers ever attribute a specific 
sense to aépwxv>? I think they do. 
I presume though, that the word 
wlpwxos In 1 Cor. 5 EL 28, is somewhat 
generic in import, though not enough 
So, as to include infants, although by 
a careful Pedobaptist arrangement, 
it can be made to appear that it in- 
cludes females, notwithstanding it 
cannot be done from the word itself. 
But a Baptist can spread a Greek 
word over the eyes of a common hear- 
er and reader, and pretend to deal in 
nothing but explicit warrants,—a 
thus saith the Lord, &c., and after 
all, have nothing but inference or 
analogy out of which to manufacture 
his warrants. We might almost con- 
<lude that they are express, merely 
because an authoritative Baptist 
reasons so Pedobaptistically. But 
then we might be simple enough to 
conclude, that he could by a similar 
strong combination of inferential tes-’ 
timony forge an explicit warrant for 
infant baptism. 

When the Baptist engages to de- 
fend female communion by warrants 
explicit, we see him take a Greek 
word in his mouth, and then trom the 
explicit source of analysis he begins 
to infer temale’s right to the holy 
Supper, from their interest in God’s 
Savor :—from their suitableness to that 
ordinance, as godly persons :—from 
the benefit of that ordinance to them :— 
JSrom their church-membership :—from 
their baptism, &e. 

But it must be borne in mind, that 
an explicit warrant is such as pre- 


pe ps oe 


other topics, as for r arable Acts i 
11. “They were baptized, both men 
and women.” Here, without inferr- 
ing from any other source, we instant- 
ly discern both sexes. But how a 
Baptist can be sufficiently skilled to 


manufacture an explicit warrant. 


from the above sources of inference, 
is somewhat enigmatieal, and hard to 
account for, that he will not reason 
similarly in behalf of infant baptism, 


or at least acknowledge it when 


proven by a Pedobaptist, although, 
he proves it just likea Baptist pang 
female communion. An express wo 

for female communion must be bid 
that specifies the sex; but this ean- 


not be produeed, therefore females — 


should be excluded aecording to the 
requirement of Baptists, relative to 


intant baptism, for their argument is: 


“Whoever has a right to any posi- 
tive ordinance must be mentioned 
expressly, as having that right: 
Therefore infants are not to be bap- 
tized.” 


We respond: Whoever has a right 
to any positive ordinance must be 
mentioned expressly, as having that 
right; but females are not so men- 
tioned, with respect to the Lord’s 
Supper: therefore females are not 
allowed to commune. Now, what can 
the Baptist do? Why he can resort 
to inferential testimony to prove fe- 
male communion ; and the same kind 
of proof we can produce for infant 
baptism. The plain fact is, Baptists 
may labor till the final reckoning, and 
they can never produce a warrant for 
female communion so explicit as the 
one they demand for infant baptism. 
In yain do they appeal to the word 
a/$pwxos as a generic term for proof, 
or to any other source. “A,dpwzoc, as 


INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


(387 


a generic term!”—“Often stands.” 
Why did you not say, always stands ? 
No doubt you saw that your deceit 
was unpardonable enough, without 
venturing to tell a direct falsehood. 
It is pretty well put in, “Often 
stands ;” for it does not always have 
a generic sense, but very frequently 
@ specific sense, which, when proven, 
what will become of your explicit war- 
rant ? 

-I will now give you afew specimens, 
in which there isa distinction and 
opposition of the sexes, and the word 
used is not Avyp, but AvOpwxos. Matt. 
19,10. “His disciples say unto him, 
if the case of the man (Avdpwxv) be 
so with his WIFE, it is not good to 
marry.” Same chapter, verse3: “The 
Pharisees also came unto him, tempt- 
ing him, and saying unto him, Is it 
lawful for a man (Avdpwzo) to put away 
his WIFE for every cause?” Mark 
10,7. “For this cause shall; a man 

_ (AvOpwzoc) leave his father and mother, 
and cleave to his WIFE.” 1 Cor. 7, 1. 
“Now concerning the things where- 
of ye wrote unto me, it is good 
for a man (d4yépoz0) not to touch a 
WOMAN.” Matt. 19,5. “For this cause 
shall a man (4Av0pwz0-) leave his father 
and mother, and shall cleave to his 
WIFE.” Rey. 9, 7, 8. “And their faces 


were as the faces of men (Adpwzwy;) 


and they had hair as the hair of 


WOMEN.” Eph. 5, 31. “For this 
cause shall a man (dAv0pwxos) leave 
his father and mother, and shall be 
joined unto his WIFE.” Gen. 2, 24. 
“Therefore shall a man (Aépwzuc) leave 
his father and his mother, and shall 
cleave unto his WIFE.” Deut. 20, 7. 
“And what man (Avépwrx0s) is there 
that hath betrothed a wiFE, and hath 
not taken her?” See also, Deut. 21, 
15, chap. 22, 30. Esther 4,11. Num. 
25,8. Gen. 2,18. Lev. 19, 20. Jer. 


44,7. Deut. 17,5. Gen. 34,14. Gen. 
26, 11. 

Any person, only with part of an 
eye, and half sense, can see, that in 
the above quotations, the word (4)- 
dpwxos) does not include the female, 
but specifically distinguishes between 
male and female. Now what has be- 
come of this generic term? Reader, 
do you suppose the intelligent Bap- 
tist minister does not see these things 
without being told? 

I do not blame Baptists for not 
producing explicit warrants for fe- 
male communion, for it is what no 
one can do. But I do blame them, 
for their inconsistency and hypocrisy 
in pretending to have explicit war- 
rants for female communion, and 
with this pretence try to blind the 
community, and cause it to reject in- 
fant baptism, when the command is 
as explicit for infant baptism, as for 
female communion. J deem it unnec- 
essary to pursue this. subject any 
farther now. , 

Then for the second: “The Serip- 
tures require faith and repentance in 
order to baptism; - but infants. have 
neither faith nor repentance : Therefore 
infants are not praper or fit subjects 
Sor baptism.” 

Answer: I have not only proven 
the possibility of infant faith, but 
have proven the fact itself. This, 
however, is not necessary, to show 
the fallacy and inconsistency of ‘the 
above argument. 

I shall ask the question: Of whom 
do the Scriptures require faith and 
repentance in order to baptism ? Will 
you answer, of adults? Then we will 
not dispute about it; for this is con- 
tended tor by Pedobaptists as well as 
by yourselves. But if you answer, 
of infants, then give us Scripture to 
prove that faith and repentance are 


38 


required of infants in order to bap- 
tism; then your argument might 
have some force, provided it is im- 
possible for infants to have faith. 
But if you can find a text that says, 
faith and repentance are 
infants in order to baptism, then it 
will be clear that the requirement is 
made; and if this requirement is 
made, they must have a right to the 
ordinance, notwithstanding. For un- 
der Gospel promises no requirements 
are made of persons who have no 
right to them; and hence, if this is 
only required, they must have a right; 
and then the only remaining diftieul- 
ty would be to prove the possibility 
of infant faith, which, then, if it could 
not be proven, would manifestly 
show that the Gospel requires impos- 
sibilities of them, and hence the Gos- 
pel would make unreasonable require- 
ments, or this Baptist argument is 
false. But does the Gospel make un- 
reasonable requirements of any one ? 
I would suppose the Baptist would 
say, no. Well, then, if this require- 
ment is unreasonable, it is not made. 
And if it is not made, what becomes 


of this Baptist argument = which 
inakes the requirement. It is ex- 


ploded. 

It is not my purpose now to prove 
what I have already proven. We 
are now dealing with a promiscuous 
fallacious argument. 


If you say tliat it does not devolve 


on you to prove that it is required of 


infants, I answer, that it devolves up- 
on you then not to put them into 
your argument. For it is the putting 
of infants into your argument, with- 
out proving that faith and repentance 
are required of them in order to bap- 
tism, that makes your argument a 
sophism. You are therefore bound 
to prove that faith and repentance 


required of 


Tes or abide is consequence of an 
incontestable exposure. 


In a consistent argument, snones 


should not be more in the conclusion — 
than was in the premises; because | 


the conclusion is to be CRETE from : 


the premises.” ; 
That which tends to support a 


. 7. 
falsehood, or proves against a known 


fact, must be a diabolical argument. 


And this very same argument which — 
requires of infants, that which is— 


only required of adults in order to 


baptism, proves against facts well 
and must therefore be — 


established ; 
false. Not only Seripture, bué na- 
ture itself, teaches that infants 
should be supported. But according 
to this Baptist argument, in refer 
ence to infant baptism: 


fants should be left to starve. 
stance: Isa. 1, 19—“If ye be willing 
and obedient, ye shall eat the good 
of the land.” But, Baptist fashion, 
we object: “Infants can neither be 
‘willing’, nor ‘obedient: (What hin- 
ders the conclusion?) Therefore in- 
fants must not “eat the good of the 
land.” Again, 2 Thess. 3, 10—“If 
any would not work, neither should 
he eat.” We object Baptist fashion 
again, and say: Infants can neither 
‘work’ nor will to work: (What hin- 
ders the conclusion?) Therefore in- 
fants shall not eat. Now, to present 
such arguments to the Baptists, 
touching the temporal subsistence of 
infants, they would be likely to tell 

s: “Then give us Scripture to prove 
that to will to work, &c., are required 
of infants in order to their temporal 
subsistence,” &c. 


if similarly | 
framed in reference to their temporal — 
subsistence, will proye against Na- 
ture and Scripture both, and, that in-_ 
In-— 


But if we were to — 


aq 


4 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


rn 


tell them, “it does not devolve on us 
to prove that this is required of in- 
fants;” they would in all likelihood | 
tellus. “it devolves upon you then 
not to put them into your argument: 
for it is the putting of infants into | 
your argument, without proving that 
to will to work, is required of them 
in order to their temporal subsistence, | 
that makes your argument a sophism.” . 
‘They would be likely to tell us, as [| 
tell them concerning their false ar- 
gument against infant baptism, and 
say: “You are therefore bound to 
prove that, to ill to work is required 
of them in order to their temporal 
subsistence, or leave them out of the | 
argument, or abide the consequences 
_of an incontestable exposure.” 

This Baptist argument is a bad 
piece, it will be against the truth | 
ally way we can fix it, till we fix it 
right, and then it will not be a Bap- 
tist argument, that is, it will not ex- | 
clude infants from baptism, nor from 
a temporal support. « 

It is a truth that Christ was right- 
ly baptized. Butethe Baptist argu- 
ment will prove the contrary, and 
must therefore be false. We _ will 
throw it into syllogistic form. Thus: 
“The Scriptures require faith and re- 
pentance,” in order to be rightly bap- 
‘tized; but Christ had neither faith 
nor repentance; therefore Christ was 
not rightly baptized. 

Mr. Webb, (the W. P.) in our dis- 
cussion, in attempting to get out of 
the above difficulty, «undertook to 
prove that Christ had faith and re- 
pentance! But as Christ is “holy, 
undefiled, separate from sinners,” 
and the object in whom all faith is to 
center and rest, faith and repentance 
are utterly out of the question touch- 
ing his person; although He (God) 
hath made him fo be sin.for us, who 


° 39 


knew no sin;—&e. It was not said 


to Christ when he came to be bap- 
tized of John: “If thou believest thou 
mayest;” but John said, “I have 
need to be baptized of thee, and 
comest thou to me?” Matt. 3, 14. 
No doubt if Mr. Webb had been in 
John’s place, he would have told Je- 
sus, “If thou believest that Jesus is 
the Christ, thou mayest;’ and proba- 
bly would, in the first place, have 
preached to him, to induce him to be- 
lieve that Jesus was the Christ!!! 
It is impossible to conclude that the 
baptism of Christ was wrong, and 
very absurd and false to conclude 
that he was an humble, penitent be- 
liever in Christ; (for he knew that he 
was the Christ); we must therefore 
conclude that this Baptist argument 
is false. 

Again, that infants were cirenm- 
cised is an evident fact—by the ex- 
press command of God, too. With 


this truth in view we will try the 
| above argument, whether it will be 


for or against infants. Now, since 
circumcision was a solemn entering 
into the church of God tnder the 
old dispensation, and did fix an ob- 
ligation on the circumcised to eon- 
form to the laws and ordinances of 
that church, as may be clearly in- 
ferred trom Acts 15, 24, viz.: “Ye. 
must be circumcised, and keep the 
law; which would have been just. if 
circumcision had not been abolished. 
The Apostle says, Gal. 5,3: “Every 
man who is circumcised, is a debtor 
to do the whole law.” The import of 
his language is, if cireumcision be in 
force, so must its obligation also be. 
And Rom. 2, “Circumcision 
profiteth, if-thou keep the law; but, 
if thou be a breaker of the law, thy 
circumcision is made uncireumcision.” 
Now, if the cireumeised would keep 


2D: 


40 ad 


profit; but, otherwise, it would not. 


But infants could not keep the law, | then leave these two bad ar, 


nay, no more than they can perform 
the obligations required of the bap- 
tized; and the Baptists affirm that 
infants are not capable of the require- 
ments for baptism, then it will also 
follow that they are not capable of 
the requirements of the circumcised. 
Then, in this respect, baptism and 
circumcision are upon a level. And 
if, for the want of capability, it is 
wrong to baptize, it must, for the 
Same reason, have been wrong to cir- 
cumeise infants: and thus this Bap- 
tist argument militates against a 
plainly revealed truth—a command 
of Jehovah. Now, then, the Baptists 
and the Almighty for it. 


But Mr. Noel, page 131, says,— 
“that unregenerated infants might 
be cireumcised, because capable, as 
well as unregenerated adults, of con- 
formity to the law; but unregenera- 
ted infants should not be. baptized, 
because they are utterly excluded, 
so long as they remain unregenerate, 
from all the privileges and blessings 
of the Gospel.” I wonder from what 
Mr. N. proves the capability of in- 
fant’s conformity to the law? From 
the incapability of unregenerated 
adults? This must be his reason, or 
he has no reason at all. But were 
adults circumcised because of their 
incapability to conform to the law’s 
requirements? If so, Mr. N.’s reason 
is good. But the want of capability 
to conform to the requirements of 
the law, is no where in the Scrip- 
tures given as the reason why any 
one was to be circumcised ; therefore 
Mr. N.’s assumption is’  abetea and 
intolerable. 


I shall make a passing remark yet, 


a a ee 


mixes prevaricati , and - 
which are the life-cords of the Bap- 
tists against infants, for the co 
and edification of the ae 
the Baptist church. “a 
What I intend yet to say in refer- — 
ence to the above quotation, is, that — 
if infants are to be “utterly excluded, 
so long as they remain unregenerate, : 
from all the privileges and blessings of & 
the Gospel,” that they will remain 
unregenerate: and of ‘course they 
can have no interest in the atonement 
of Jesus Christ, (for surely this i 
ONE of the blewsines of the Gospe 


poor, 


1 
and consequently they must vane : 
signed to the regions of hell forever. 
I wonder how they could ever become 
regenerate, when they are “utterly ex- 
cluded,—trom ALL the privileges and 
blessings of the Gospel?” A broader — 
sweep the devil could not wish any 
of his ministers to make. I wonder 
whether Mr. N. could have the char-— 
ity to make as broad a dash at unre- 
generated adults? Let him but say — 
as hard and as uncharitable things — 
concerning unregenerated adults, and — 
if he will not be constrained to send | 
both infants and adults to dell with- 4 
out one solitary exception, it will be, 
because he has a Satanie means of, . 
climbing up into heaven without ev 


ven” 

an interest in the atonement t of Jesus 
Christ. For utterly to exclude all the 
unregenerate, (1 care not whether in- 
fant or adult) ‘trom ALL the privileges : 
and blessings of the Gospel, is at once _ 
to Shut up every avenue of admit- 
tance into the courts of heayen: and 
consequently an attempt to christian- 
ize the unregenerated sons and — 
daughters of Adam, without any 
privileges or blessings of igh Gospel!!! 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 41 


Ah! you would probably say, it was {17th chapters of Genesis. God does’ 
not my intention to be understood.as | not say, “LI will establish my cove- 

utterly excluding unregenerated adults | nants between me and thee; as though 

from all the privileges and blessings of | there were two covenants!! But he 

the Gospel, but only infants. But, | says “my covenant;” and invariably 

why unregenerated infants, and not | speaks of but ONE covenant made 

unregenerated adults? Is it because | with Abraham. _ 

—“that unregenerated infants might But it is of importance to the Bap- 

be circumcised, because capable, as | tist cause to invent or make another 

well as unregenerated adults, of con- | distinct covenant, so as to have one 

formity to the law?” If so, (which | in two, and two in one, to give room 

must be your reason, if you have any | to prevaricate with dexterity ; for it 

reason at all; in fact, there is any | is impossible to exclude infants, pro- 

thing almost iv your book but good | vided the Abrahamic covenant is the 

sense), I answer, that wnregenerated | covenant of grace. They therefore 

infants might be baptized, because | call up Mr. Cunning to invent and 

capable, as well as unregenerated | fix another covenant in this, of a pure- 

adults, of conformity to the require-|ly national character; distinct and 

ments of the ordinance of baptism. separate from the Church of God, into 

But if you pronounce this a sophism ; | which he throws poor little infants. 
I reply that your sophism is its fa- Mr. N. says (on the 186th page of 

ther, and if it is not of the right kind, | his own work against infant baptism) : 
itis because its father is not of the | “Paul corrected this error by declar- 
right species. The plain fact is, the ing, that the covenant of grace made 
Gospel privileges and blessings are not | with Abraham on behalf of all believ- 
bestowed on any one, whether adult | ers, four hundred and thirty years be- 
or infant, because they are previously | fore that the giving of the law com- 
to the receiving of the Gespel’s. di- pleted the national covenant, secured 
vine grace, capable of complying with | salvation by grace, through faith, to 
its requirements, but through the/ all believers. Thus the blessings of 
Gospel’s divine grace and power re-|the Abrahamic national covenant 
generation is effected, and the|were promised to works, and the 
powers of obedience in a new life the | blessings of the Abrahamic covenant 
blessedl consequences. See James 1, | of grace were promised by faith.” I 
18, 21; Tit. 2, 11,14; ch, 3, 5,7; Rom. | answer—There never was any such 


a en ee 


1, 16; 1 Pet. 1, 23; 2 Pet. 1, 3, 45} covenant made with Abraham, that 
v.19; Acts 26,18; 2 Cor. 3, 3-9;|even promised any kind, _ whether 
eh. 4, 1-7; &e., &e. temporal or spiritual blessings, BY 

Mr. Noel furthermore says:—“the | worKxs. Abraham did not enter into 
promises made to Abraham contain. |the land of Canaan, of which our 
ed two distinct covenants, the one | Baptist friends speak, as “temporal 
made with his natural posterity, the | inheritance,” — “external blessings,” 
other with his spiritual posterity,” | &c., by works. For no one ever en- 
&e. I ask where in all divine revela- | tered the land of Canaan, as a type 
tion can anything be found that will! of heaven, by works: for this was no 
prove such an invented scheme as| more possible, than to enter heaven 
this. It is not found in the 15th and | itselfby works. “And towhom swear 


42 


he that they should not enter into | have done in my remarks upon the 
his rest,fbat to them that believe | 15th and 17th chapters of Genesis; — 
not? So we see that they could not | yet, before we can prove these two 
| distinct covenants one and the same, 


enter in because of unbelief,’ Heb. 3, 
18,19. Although the covenant made 
at Mt. Sinai (430 years after the cov- 
enant made with Abraham) promised 
the Israelites, upon condition of per- 
feet obedience to all the command- 
ments of God, the enjoyment of all 
the blessings in the land of Canaan ; 
(to which purpose scores of texts are 
quoted by Mr. N., which might be quo- 


ted here, if it were thought necessary ;. 


but as this is, admitted, I deem it 
unnecessary), it is, nevertheless, far 
from proving that they ever entered 
and enjoyed the land of Canaan as a 
type of heaven. by legal works, any 
more than ever any one entered the 
heavenly Canaan itself by ‘works; 
and, furthermore, I deny that Canaan 
was ever promised to Israel other- 
wise than typical of heaven, although 
it was promised in the Sinaitic cove- 
nant upon terms of perfect legal obe- 
dience, which so widely differs from 
the covenant terms with Abraham, 


that it may be contrasted with it, 


with the same propriety that the law 
admits of a contrast with the gospel. 
Yet, because Canaan was promised in 
both covenants, it does not necessari- 
ly tollow, as Mr. N. argues, p. 146, 
that, “the Sinaitic covenant was no 
more distinet from that made with 
Abraham, than the covenant made 
with Isaac was distinet from it.” 
How he can argue as be does is very 
strange tome. It is not only admit- 
ted that the covenant made _ with 
Abraham, is the same as the one 
made with Isaac, Jacob, and Israel, 
but it has already been proven. Al- 
though it be a good rule to infer iden- 
tity of blessings from identity of 
promises or terms of promises, as I 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


it will be necessary to show, that the 
terms upon which the blessings are 
promised, are identically the same. 
But it has already been shown that the 
terms are not at all the same, and 


therefore the covenantsin question — 
addition to— 
this, we have positive evidence that — 


are not the same. In 
the covenant made at Horeb or Sinai, 
was not at all made with Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob; although the one 
made with Abraham deseended down 
to Israel and all his future posterity, 
even to the end of time, “confirmed 
by an oath: that by two immutable 
things, in which it was impossible for 
God to lie, we might have a strong 


consolation, who have fled for refuge, — 


to lay hold upon the hope set before 


us: which hope we have as an anchor — 
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, 


and which entereth into that within 


the vail”—Heb. 6, 17, 19.. I say we 


have positive proof that the covenant 
made at Horeb was not made with 


Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Deu. 


5, 2, 3, Moses says, “the Lord our 
God made a covenant with usin Horeb. 
The Lord made not thiscoyenant with 
our fathers but with us, even us, 


who are all of us here alive this day.” 


The text expressly says: “the Lord 
made not this covenant with our fa- 
thers but with us, even us, who are all 
of us here alive this day.” This cove- 
nant was made 430 years after the 
Abrahamic: and was not at all made 
with Abraham nor any of the fathers 
who had fallen asleep, as the text 
clearly testifies. This is the Agar, or 
Sinaitic covenant, “which gendereth 
to bondage.” “For this Agar is Mt. 
Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 43 


Jerusalem which now is, and isin 
bondage with her children.” Gal. 4, 
24, 25. “And this I say, that the 
covenant (made with Abraham) that 
was confirmed before of God in Christ, 
the law, (covenant at Sinai) which 
was 430 years after cannot disannul 
that it should make the promise of 
none effect. For if the inheritance 
be of the law (Sinaitic covenant) it is 
no more of promise: but God gave it 
to Abraham by promise.” Gal. 3, 17, 
18, that is, in the covenant made 
with Abraham. This point, no doubt, 
is sufficiently clear in the view of 
many of my readers or hearers if not 
all. « 3 

I beg though to be indulged in my 
prolixity a little farther, if you please 
to call it such. Then to the subject. 

I have already established’ the fact 
that there was only one covenant 
made with Abraham, although men- 
tioned in various places in the Script- 


nant had the promise of its posses- 
sion: this notwithstanding is no proof 
that the Abrahamic and Sinaitie cov- 
enants are identical; nay, no more 
than it will prove that the Law and 
Gospel are the same thing. But the 
Law and Gospel are so very different, 
as plainly to admit of a contrast. 
Notwithstanding, suppose I affirm, 
and not only affirm, but prove, that 
“eternal life” is promised to the doers 
of the Law; and that eternal life is 
also offered through grace, in the 
Gospel—will Mr. N., as he does, con- 
cerning the Abrahamic and Sinaitie 
covenants, affirm that they are iden- 
tically the same? because the same 
thing is offered in both, viz., “eternal 
life.” In the very same way that he 
proves the Abrahamic and Sinaitie 
covenants to be identically the same, 
I will prove the Law and Gospel to be 
the same thing. He very well knows 
that if the Abrahamic covenant is the 
ures, from the fact that it would be | covenant of grace, and that, it contain- 
absurd to conclude that two. distinct |ed no other covenant, that it must 
covenants were made with the same | have led its infant subjects “to adop- 
individual promising the game things | tion,” “secured salvation ;” as he says, 
upon the very same conditions; yet | p. 184, concerning the Abrahamic cov- 
from the fact that the same things are | enant of grace. . True, he speaks not 
promised in those various places, it is | thus of infants, but the conclusion is 
not absurd to conclude that another | irresistible, if the Abrahamic cove- 
distinet cdvenant might be made with nant is purely the covenant of grace. 
other individuals, or even the same | But does it follow, because the land 
individual, promising the very same | of Canaan was promised in. both the 
blessing upon different terms: for| Abrahamic and Sinaitic covenants, 
then it would not be the same. cove-| that they are identically the same? 
nant promising the same things; but |-If so, will it not follow, because eter- 
a different covenant promising the | nal life is promised both to the doers . 
same things upon different terms.— | of the Law and the believers of the 
Now the land of Canaan was promised | Gospel, that the Law and Gospel are 
under both covenants, the Abrahamic | identically the same? The Law and 
and Sinaitic; and because this was|the Gospel are distinct: notwith- 
the case, Mr. N. concludes that they | standing, eternal life is promised un- 
are identical. Although Canaan was) der both: to the former, in case its 
typieal of heaven, as has been shown, | demands are fulfilled, and perfect 
and obedience to the Sinaitie cove“ obedience rendered: see Luke 10, 25- 


. 


tk 


28; Rom. 7, 10; Gal. 3, 12; Levit. 18, 
5; Rom. 10, 5;—to the latter, “by 
grace through faith,” Eph. 2, 8,9; 2 
Tim. 1,9; Rom. 4, 16, &e. So, too, I 
affirm and prove that the Sinaitic coy- 
enant had the promise of the land of 
Canaan, in case the Israelites fulfilled 
and perfectly obeyed the precepts of 
the moral law or Sinaitic covenant. 
Jarefully read at your leisure the Sth 
chap. of Deut.; ch. 29, 9-15. It is 
not necessary to quote more texts to 
establish this fact. 


But, as Mr. N. has quoted some of 
the above texts, in order to prove the 
Sinaitic covenant and the Abrahamic 
the same; because the inheritance 
and blessings of the land of Canaan 
are promised under both, I shall yet 
eall your attention to a few, in order 
to show, that, notwithstanding, Ca- 
naan was promised under both, that 
the covenants are different in their 
requirements, in order to the same at- 
tainments. Then, I will continue the 
contrast, and say, that the Abrahamic 
covenant had the promise of the land 
of Canaan upon terms as different 
from the Sinaitic as these of the Gos- 
pel are to those of the moral law now, 
in order to “eternal life.’ That the 
moral law was given at Mount Sinai, 
and that the land of Canaan was 


promised to the Israelites in case of 


perfect obedience, cannot be denied. 
Neither did the Sinaitic covenant of- 
fer grace, for it was not the covenant 
of grace: for it is the covenant,— 
“trom Mount Sinai, which gendereth 
to bondage, which is Agar. For this 
Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and 
answereth to Jerusalem which now is, 
and is in bondage with the children,” 
Gal. 4, 24-25. It may be asked, why 
was this covenant or law given? I 
answer: 


transgression, till the seed should 


- 


“it was added because of 


come ta whom the prowjieiiie 


Gal. 3,19. But in tne oS ta | 


with Abraham, the promise ot the i in-. 
heritance in Ctegmantig (which was ty 

ical of heaven) was not through the 
law or Sinaitie covenant, which urged 
that rigid legal obbddisilinn, for in this 
respect they were “of the works of 
the law,” and consequently “under 


the curse,” as no one since the fall is” 


capable of keeping it; “for it is writ- 


ten, cursed is every one that contin- 


uethenot in all things which are writ- 


ten in the book of the law to do 


them.” Gal. 3, 10. 


Now, if Guba as an inheritance 
was promised to Abraham in the Si-— 


naitic covenant or through the law, it 
must be because the Sinaitie and Abra- 
hamic covenants are identically the 
same, as Mr. N. attempts to prove.— 
But if he is correct, St. Paul is mis- 
taken, for Paul denies that the inher- 
itance is of the law. He says, “for if 
the inheritance be of the law, it is no 
more of promise ; 


Abraham by promise.” Gal. 3, 18. 


Consequently, the Abrahamic coy- : 


but God gave it*to- 


enant must be the covenant. of grace, | 


and distinct from_the Sinaitie; and 


as it once included infants, it must — 
yet include them, unless it can be 


shown that they are excluded, which — 


we know cannot be done. 

Our promises, in the fifth and last 
place, will now be fulfilled; though, 
we regret that we have oceasion to 
notice the sentiments of pedo-baptists 
at all; 
ing of every impediment to a clear un- 
derstanding of the subject, however 
painful the task may be. Friends of 


‘@ good cause should be such in deed 


and in truth. If we fail to speak the 
truth, we ask no charity tocover what 
may be unsound; but, in Christian 
love, ask for correction, as we all 


OO 


but duty demands the remov- 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


45 


should do, and strive to attain correct | husband and an unbelieving wife, and 


views. 

In our supplement, to our fourth 
section, we promised to examine 
a sermon, published in the Lutheran 
Visitor, of May, 1867, in regard to 
infant church-membership “by virtue 
of their birth.” It says: “Children 
born of believing parents are members 
of the Church by virtwe of their 


is giving his advice to the believing 
party, not to the unbelieving; for 
over the unbelieving he did aot seem 
to exercise any control; hence, 1 Cor. 
7, 15: “But if the unbelieving depart 
let him depart. A brother or a sister 
is not under bondage in such cases.” 
The unbelieving husband is reckoned 
to the believing wife, not the beliey- 


birth, and that their baptism is not | ing wife to the unbelieving husband ; 


initiatory.” Surely this deserves 
an examination, as the idea is exten- 


sively received, and is doing good, if 


true; but very great harm, if it is 
false; as it leads persons to trust in 
it, and to be slow in having their chil- 
dren dedicated to God in holy bap- 
tism; if not finally to neglect it alto- 
gether. 

As it regards the legality of the 
marriage alluded to, in the text dis- 
eussed in the sermon, we do not ob- 
ject. Neither do we object to the 
cleanness or holiness of the children, 
the issues of such marriages , unless 
it be misapplied, or perverted to a 
purpose to which the apostle never 
designed it. ButJin that sermon, it 
is most assuredly misapplied, and 
the remarks are well calculated to 
lead the reader or hearer away from 
the real fact as it is revealed in the 
Word of God. The text does not say 
one word in regard to chureh mem- 
bership of such children; this is alto- 
gether assumed. That, “the text 
clearly teaches, that there is a mark- 
ed distinction between the children 
of believing and unbelieving parents,” 
is admitted, but that it amounts to 
church membership we cannot admit, 
for reasons which shall be given. 

St. Paul is speaking with regard to 
the marriage relation as existing be- 
tween, either a believing wife and an 


| 
| 


the same is true of the unbelieving 
wife ; so, too, the children are reckon- 
ed to the believing party, hence they 
are “clean” to the believing party, not 
that the children are cleaner or holier 
by nature than the children of parents 
who are both unbelieving. And so 
we may say, the unbelieving husband 
is sanctified by the believing wife, 
and the unbelieving wite by the be- 
lieving husband; but notwithstand- 
ing this fact, either of the unbelieving 
parties are just as unclean or unholy 
as any other unbeliever, and just as 
little members of the church as any 
other unbeliever; although, in this 
marriage relation the unbelieving is 
sanctified by the believing one: For 
to the believing, or the “pure,” or the 
“sanctified,” or if you prefer, the 
“holy,” “All Things Are Pure: but 
unto them that are defiled and unhe- 
lieving is nothing pure; but even 
their mind and conscience is defiled.” 
Tit. 1, 15, i 
Now, we might just as ‘yell conclude i 
that the marriage relation of an un- 
believer with a believer makes the 
unbelieving wife or husband a mem- 
ber of the church, because in this re- 
lation they are said to be sanctified, 
(henee holy,) as to conclude that the 
children are born members of. the 
church, because it is said—*but now 
are they holy.” But this holiness, or 


unbelieving husband, or a believing | sanctification, just as little makes 


46 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


dubapet 


them members of the church by birth 
as the marriage of the unbelieving 
with the believing makes the unbe- 
lieving a member of the church; for 
the unbelieving wife or husband is 
spoken of as sanctified or holy, in 
terms as forcible as it is spoken of 
the children. Indeed, it is a great 
blessing for children even to have 
only one believing parent, much more 
when both are; but even when both 
are, it does not guarantee to their 
offspring church membership by 
birth, (!!!) although they are said to 
be holy. Well, therefore, does the 
sermon say: (Lutheran Visitor, p. 
123,) “It will be understood, however, 
that in none of these cases does the 
word express any inward change.” 
Indeed there is another blessed and 
favorable aspect to such sanctified 
marriage relation, of which the apos- 
tle speaks in the text, (attempted to 
be discussed in that sermon,) which 
looks to church membership, as a 
thing that may take place in future 
with the unbelieving party. We can 
not express it so well as St. Peter, 
and will therefore let him speak: (1 
Epistle 3, 1-7)—“ Likewise, ye wives, 
be in subjection to your own hus- 
bands; that, if any obey not the word, 
they also may without the word be 
won by the conversation of the wives,” 
&c., which shows that the unbelieving 
may be won to the church and become 
a member: And so, too, the children 
may still have a more favorable op- 
portunity than the unbelieving hus- 
band or wife; provided the unbeliey- 
ing party does not violently interfere ; 
but that they are born members of 
the church, is about as true as that 
the “sanctified” unbelieving husband 
or wife is married into the church, 
when inter-married with a believer; 
indeed, there may be a common mod- 


5 nn ee ee ee 


ern sense in which it is sometim 
expressed; and in about the same — 
modern sense has the sermon gotten — 
up the idea of children being born — 
into thechureh. The plain Seriptural — 
fact is, no one can become a member 
ofthe church, ordinarily, except he be ~ 
born of water and of the Spirit. The — 
Savior has put this beyond the possi- — 
bility of all contradiction—John 3, 5. , 
_ We readily agree to what the ser- | 
mon has said—p. 125—where it says: 
“As to whats implied by ‘the king- — 
dom of God’ isa thing not to be ques- — 
tioned. This is universally admitted — 
to be the Gospel church spoken of by — 
Daniel, and declared to be at hand, — 
by John the Baptist, when Christ — 
came.” Very well, to this we agree; — 
but that the infants of believing par- 

ents are born into this kingdom, by 

their natural birth, is what neither the — 
author of the sermon nor any one else’ 
shallever be able to prove. Now there 
is only one way designated in the Serip- 
tures how we can enter, and we must all 
enter as little children enter, or we shall — 
notenterat all. But thesermon says, 
they are born members of the church — 
who have a birth from Christian par- 
ents. But how would it be with such 
as have no Christian parents, but — 
have grown old before they would be 
led to see the necessity of being born — 
into this kingdom or church? Right 
here this individual, Nicodemus like, 

could consistently ask the author of — 
the sermon, “How can a man be born — 
when he is old? Can he enter the 
second time into his mother’s womb, 
and be born?” All must enter the — 
kingdom as little children- enter, or 
they shall not enter at all; the Savior 
has positively said it. But the ser-— 
mon says: “Childien of believing par- 
ents are members of the Church by 
virtue of their birth, and that their 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


47 


baptism is not initiatory.” Now let | 1st col.): “From Adam to Abraham 


us suppose a household of unbeliey- 
ers, say father and mother, are both 
unbelievers, and that they have six 
or seven children, we will say all mi- 
nors, but after the birth of the chil- 
dren, both parents become to be true 
believers: we may now ask, would 
-the children be “members of the 
church by virtue of their birth?” Still 
we would admit in this case, that 
there woul: be “a marked distinction” 
between these children and the chil- 
dren of unbelievers, but it could not 
amount to church membership “by 
virtue of their birth;” notwithstand- 
ing it would be true that they now 
belonged to the people of God; how- 
ever, they could not be considered as 
being: in the kingdom of God without 
being initiated into it; and if they 
would never be initiated, or never be- 
come members of the church, they 
still could and would be “cut off” 
from the people of God, because they 
belonged to the people of God; though 
they were never “members of the 
ehureh by virtue of their birth,” or 
otherwise. “They are not all Israel 
which are of Israel,” and so a part of 
Israel might be cut off from Israel 
without involving the idea that those 
who are cut off were Israel at all. 
But this may touch that “abundance” 
of “proot” alluded to in the sermon— 
Lutheran Visitor, p. 124. 

That children were members of the 
ehurch, from Adam to Abraham, is 
admitted; yes, indeed, their member- 
ship runs down through all time, and 
is one of the fixed veritiesof Almighty 
God. But that they were, or are, 
members of the church “by virtue of 
their birth” can never be proved. 

That the children, from Adam to 
Abraham, were not initiated, the ser- 
mon has not proved. It says, (p. 124, 


there was a period of two thousand 
years, during which time there were 
doubtless many thousand of children 
connected with the church.” Again: 
“These were not initiated into the 
church by the rite of circumcision, for 
this rite was established with Abra- 
ham as God’s covenant token. Dur- 
ing these two thousand years, in 
which there was no mode of initiation, 
one of two thipgs must be true— 
either that God continued his chureh 
for this period without infant mem- 
bership, or that the infants in the 
church were there by virtue of their 
birth.” 

Now, where is the proof for the as- 
sertion: “These were not initiated ?” 
How does he know? Is it from the 
sile1ce of the Scriptures on the sub- 
ject? Surely this is a feeble argu- 
ment. It may seem to be deep and 
well founded to some, but to us it has 
not the weight of a straw. 

We admit that the Scriptures are 
silent concerning the “initiatory” rite 
in this age of the church; but does 
this give the author of the sermon or 
any one else authority dogmatically 
to affirm that there was no rite of ini- 
tiation? “These were not initiated,” 
is the chief corner stone upon which 
the sermon's fabric stands: And the 
silence of Scripture must be the foun- 
dation of this major proposition. We 
can see nothing else, as its founda- 
tion. We, too, would like to see what 
it is. But will any affirm that the 
silence of Scripture on that point, is 
sufficient evidence that there was no 
initiatory rite? If this be true, then 
the silence of Scripture, in regard to 
other things not at all mentioned in 
Scripture, is sufficient evidence of 
their non-existence. We might con- 
clude, then, that Adam had no daugh- 


48 


ters until after he begat Seth. But 
who can believe this to be true? A 
jirst and a second heaven are not men- 
tioned in the Bible; is it, therefore, 
true that there is no first nor second 
heaven? <A third is mentioned: 2 
Cor. 12,2. May we not there infer, 
that there must bea first and a second 
heaven, because there could not be a 
third without involving the idea of a 
first and a second? Might we not 
argue most consistently and say, since 
there was a rite of initiation (cireum- 
cision) in Abraham’s day, and, more- 
over, since there is such a rite (bap- 
tism) under the New Testament (lis- 
pensation, that there may have been 
one from the time of Adam to Abra- 
ham? Wedo not affirm that there 
was, but we challenge proof that there 
was not. 

That children of believing parents 
under any dispensation have a favor- 
able position, when compared with 
those which have not, cannot be eall- 
ed into question. But a birth from 
believing parents has no more to do 
in bringing them into church member- 
ship, than the act of adopting the 
child of any unbeliever into the care 
of any true believer in Christ. Nay, 
no more than the act of purchasing a 
servant with money by a believer; 
for even such were subject to be “cut 
off” from the people of God, in case 
they were not circumcised; so saith 
the Lord, Gen. 17. Now we may 
argue, that because the servant, 
bought with money in Abraham’s 
day, must needs be circumcised ; oth- 
erwise, he shall be cut off from God’s 
people, therefore he was a member of 
the church by virtue of the purchase, 
as to say the child was a member by 
virtue of its birth from believing par- 
ents; otherwise, it could not be “cut 
off,” for to be cut off, implies to be on, 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


or in, as the sermon says, (p. 126, 2d 
col.) 
unless he was in the covenant?” Then, 
of course the purchase of an Hebrew 
servant, made such servant a member 
of the church, or of the kingdom of 
heaven, as much as the birth of a 
child from a believing parent!!! Page 
124—“ Jew circumcised because he 
was a Jew, not to make him one.” 
True he was born a Jew, but not born 


“We ask could he be “ent off? 


in the covenant any more than the — 


Canaanite was bought into it with 
money. Again, the author of the 
sermon says: “He was circumcised be- 
cause he was in the covenant, and not 
to initiate him.” We may reply, the 
Hebrew servant was circumcised be- 
cause he was in the covenant, (bought 
into it with money) and not to initiate 
him, (!!!) and subject too, to be “eut 
off” trom God's people, as well as he 
who was born of Jewish parents. 

The author of the sermon further- 
more says: “The same is true of the 
children of Christian parents now.” 
In reply, we may say, the same is 
true of children born of unbelieving 
parents now, if their children were 
adopted, or even by some civil process 
bound at common law to Christian 


people, or even bought with money; 


by such act, then, they are made 


members of the chureh—Christ’s 
blessed “kingdom”—as much as by a 
birth from believing parents. Aston- 
ishing indeed! Still it is true, in all 
these cases the children would belong 
to the people of God, but not necessa- 
rily members of the church. That 
children, of believing parents, are 
born holy in any other sense than 
that legal or ceremonial one of the 
New Testament, which relates to the 
marriages of unbelievers with beliey- 
ers, we deny. In using the word cere- 
monial, we have no allusion to the 


“by virtue of their birth ? 


‘man, that he should be clean? and he 


- eeremonial law under the Jewish dis- | 


pensation ; for these ceremonial rites | 
are fully abrogated. We have refer- | 
ence to a marriage relation of a legal | 
character. But were the children of , 
believing parents born clean or holy, , 
or sanctified under the old dispensa- 
tion, and hence members of the church | 
No. They | 
were neither morally nor ceremonially 
elean. Both the mother and the child | 
were considered unclean seven days; 
and if “a maid child,” unclean two 
weeks. Ley. 12, 2-5. But, the ob- 
jector may say, the text only men- 
tions the mother as unclean. But, 
“Who can bring a clean thing out of | 
an unclean?” Job 14,4. “* What is | 


which is born of a woman, that he | 
should be righteous.” Job 15, 14. | 
But still there is a legal sense in re- | 
gard to the institution of marriage, | 
according to which the children may | 
be considered as clean or holy. 

in our Third section we have proved 
that the covenant of grace is God’s 
plan of dealing with his children -re- | 
gardless of their cousent. The con- 
sent of the parties is only taking hold 
of the covenant which exists inde- 
pendently of their consent, and it 
looks in mercy upon all the apostate 
sons and daughters of Adam; hence 
the promise (of divine grace as offer- 
ed in this covenant) was not only to 


_ the house of Israel and its children, 


but to “all that are afar off, even as 
many as the Lord our God shall eall.” 
Acts 2,39. Andit is of importance 
to stand in a relation so near as to lay 
hold of it, whether we are so placed 
by birth, by purchase, or otherwise. 
Goed’s covenant,-so far as he 1s con- 
cerned, is to all Adam’s race, though 
none are in it by birth. Some are 
farther off than others, (not by na- 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 49 


ture) not being near enough to have 
access to this grace. Children, of be- 
lievers, by birth are near in the sense 
alluded to: so are all who are under 
their guardian care; others are afar 
off. But all break this covenant, chil- 
dren and all who do not lay hold of it 
upon the terms proposed in it. The 
terms are free grace, and it will be 
given to all who do not either reject 
or neglect it. God has proposed the 
plan ; and the submission to circam- 
cision under the old dispensation, or 
the submission to baptism under the 
new, we say, is no part of the making 
of the covenant ; far man has never, 
nor can he ever, make any part of it; 
for it is in all its stipulations God’s 


_ own plan of dealing with his creatures; 


and He may, therefore deal with them 


in merey, or judgment, or in both, ace 


cording to his own sovereign pleas- 
ure. And as no part of this plan of 
dealing emanates from man, but from 
God alone, he who failed, under the 
old Testament to be circumcised, was 
guilty of breaking God’s covenant; 
for it was in no respeet man’s cove- 
nant ; but God’s, proposed and plan- 
ned in all its bearings as a free offer 
of sovereign grace even to those 
“afar off; and every one, then not cir- 
cumcised, or now not baptized, hath 
broken God’s covenant; for it does 
not require a violent act of rejection 
to break such a covenant; (though it 
may be done in this way,) otherwise 
the infant nine days old could not 
have been guilty of breaking God’s 
covenant, in that it was not eireumeis- 
ed. A failure to comply with the 
terms of such a covenant, or a failure 
to be brought in submission to it, is 
equivalent to the breaking of it: and 
if never accepted it is broken in that 
it is not accepted ; and the most High 
is in all respects just and most merei- 


30 


ful in so accounting it. For when a 
very high favor is graciously offered ; 
to an unworthy miserable creature | 
- and his children, and he fails to ac- 
cept for himself and children, the 
covenant, bestowing or offering the 
free gift, is broken on the part of 
the parent and the children, without 
involving the idea that either the 
parent or children were in covenant 
at all; for the terms, upon which it 
was intended to be bestowed, are | 
broken, whenever the object of mercy 
neglects or refuses to lay hold of the 
gracious gitt thus offered. For it 
does not seem possible for any one to 
break a covenant of grace, otherwise 
than by rejecting or neglecting the 
offered mercy. And the only reason 
why all are not saved is because they 
reject or neglect the offered grace, 
and all such break the covenant who 
do not become a party in it by receiv- 
ing it. For we cannot apprehend 
the possibility of being a party in 
such a covenant, unless it be by re- 


ceiving the offered grace. 

The want of a correct view of the 
nature of the covenant of grace has 
led off to the wide breach of God’s 
holy covenant with Abraham, 
(amongst the Baptists as a denomina- 
tion, together with many Pedo-bap- 
tists: we mean so far as it has caus- 
ed neglect among the latter,) by the 
unbaptized. This covenant, unlike a 
covenant which requires the consent 
of both parties to make it a covenant, 
may be broken before the objects of 
grace and mercy have entered into it. 
In the covenant of grace there is no 
consideration of worth, value, payment, 
compensation, &c., &c., on the part of 
the subject of mercy, for it is entirely 
a covenant of grace; and the one, 
whois blessed and becomes connected 
with it, has nothing on his part to do, 


in order to be in it, or to be 
ed with it, or to realize the blessing, 
than merely to receive the blessing; — 
for it is a covenant of grace, (not at — 
all of works) “for by grace are ye 
saved through faith, and that not of 
yourselves it is the gift of God.” Eph. — 
2,8. But no one can ordinarily re- — 
ceive this blessed relation without 
submitting to God’s own appointed — 
order. The institution of cireumcis- — 
ion, by God with Abraham and his — 
seed, was altogether evangelical in its — 
design. But it seems that many the- 
ologians think, when viewing circum. — 
cision in its relation to the Abrahamic 
covenant, and baptism in relation to — 
the same covenant under the present 
dispensation, that a submission to 
either was an act on the part of the 
one submitting, that constituted a 
part of the covenant. But such sub- — 
mission is no part of the covenant. — 
God’s covenant 1s a covenant com-— 
plete in itself without any such sub- — 
mission on the part of his creature 
man. So far as man is concerned, he 
can only submit and be baptized ; 
baptism being no action of his own, — 
but if we may call it an action, it is — 
an action performed of God upon man 
for man’s own benefit: for baptism, 
when rightly administered, is not an 
action or deed on the part of the in- 
dividual baptized; but it is the result 
of an action performed upon him, by 
God himself, though God does it 
through his own appointed adminis- 
trator: “For Jesus made (and still 
makes and baptizes) and baptized 
more disciples than John.” John 4, 2. 
God does all to the saved, that possibly 
can be done. He gives man the word 
of faith, (Rom. 10,)—gives him faith 
—gives him baptism—gives him re- 
pentance—yea, gives him every bless- 
ing possibly needful to salvation. 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 


See Phil. 2, 13; James 1, 17, 18. 
“Not that we are sufficient of our- 
selves to think any thing as of our- 
selves; but our sufficiency is of God.” 
2 Cor. 3,5. Man is entirely passive 
in the realization of his salvation: 
“for by grace are ye saved through 
faith and that not of yourselves it is 
the gitt of God.” Ephe. 2,8. True, 
many under the old dispensation sub- 
mitted to circumcision, receiving 
God’s own appointed token of the 
covenant; so, also under the New, 
many are baptized by Jesus Christ 
(John 4) and still will be damned 
through unbelief, (Mark 16, 16,) or 
which is the same, by breaking God’s 
covenant; forit may be broken on our 
part after we have taken hold of it, 
by rejecting or neglecting it. For, 
“How shall we escape, if we neglect 
so great salvation,” Heb. 2, 3. >< 
That no one could break God's cov- 
enant by not being circumcised, with- 
out involving the idea of being pre- 
viously a member of the church by 
virtue of a birth from believing par- 
ents, has already been shown to be 
incorrect, and in opposition to plainly 
rWVvealed facts ; for the children of be- 
lieying parents were born unclean— 
unholy, and for this very reason could 
not be dedicated to God before the 
Sth day, for that which was ceremo- 
nially unclean could not be dedicated 


_toGod; and still the author of the 


sermon would try to justify his com- 
ment on 1 Cor. 7,14, by an appeal 
(for “abundance of proof”) to the 
membership of infants by birth (as he 


51 


holy, but unclean—hence not. mem- 
bers of the church from any such econ- 
siderations, Surely, the author of 
the sermon will not contend that they 
were morally holy, since he admits 
that “children born within the com- 
monwealth of Israel, and therefore 
holy, were none the less conceived in 
sin and born in iniquity.” We admit 
the correctness of this statement. 
But, then we ask, in what remaining 
sense could they be holy ?. It was not 
ceremonially, nor morally. How then? 
We think the holiness of the children 
mentioned, 1 Cor. 7,14, must be in 
the sense already, at least, intimated 
in our remarks above, yiz.: the chil- 
dren being holy alone from the legal 
hymeneal relation of the parents, of 
which the Apostle was speaking, and 
hence fit subjects to be dedicated to 
God, and trained up for Him, being 
reckoned to the believing par@ht: for 
all that a believer has is “pure,” 
(hence holy) whether it be children, 
or an unbelieving companion in the 
marriage relation, or meat, or drink, 
or any sach thing; for, “unto the pure 
all things are pure, but unto them 
that are defiled and unbelieving, is 
nothing pure; even their mind and 
conscience is defiled.” ‘Then let it be 
distinctly understood that God’s coy- 
enant with Abraham is the covenant 
of grace, and that it is a covenant re- 
gardless of the consent of parties, as 
we have shown in eur “3d SECTION.” 
We will now without any figure of 
speech state, that it can be broken by 
the circumcised or the uncircumcised 


thinks) in Abraham’s day. “Born of | —by the baptized or the unbaptized. 
believing parents”—hence holy — | Yes, the circumcised by their ungodly 
hence members of the church, other- j 


wise they could not break God’s cov- 
enant by not being circumcised !!! But 
facts prove that children born of be- 


_lieving parents at that time were not 


conduct have been guilty of causing 
“Strangers, Uncireumcised in Heart 
and Uncirewmeised in Flesh,” to break 
God’s covenant. “In that ye have 
brought into my sanctuary strangers, 


52 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBER SHIP—BAPTISM. 


uncircumcised in heart, and uneireum- | 
cised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary 

to pollute it, even my house, when ye | 
offer my bread, the fat and the blood, | 
and they have broken my covenant | 
because of all your abominations.” | 
Hze. 44, 7. Thus we see that the un- 
godly stranger, as well as the uncir- | 
cumcised child, broke God’s covenant. 
Ah! the stranger must have been | 
holy—a member of the church—of , 
Christ’s Kingdom—his Gospel church 
—being born of beheving parents! | 
Astonishing! indeed. 

Let every minister, and every mem- | 
ber of the church of Christ, be careful | 
not to encourage negligent professing 
Christians by such echaffy considera- 
tions, as church membership by vir- 
tue of a birth from believing parents 
—it is arope of sand: For Jesus, who 
cannot lie, has affirmed that no one | 
can efter into the kingdom of God, 
without being born of water and of 
the Spirit. True he does not use the 
expression, no one; but his term is, 
equally as strong. The word is, tis, (any 
one,) and should have been so trans- 
lated: as Dr. Luther has justly done 
in his German translation :—Es sey 
denn, dasz Iemand geboren werde aus 
dam Wasser und Geiste,” &e. “Ex- 
cept any one be born of water and of 
the Spirit,” &c. 

Now, we by no means preach the 
damnation of unbaptized children, nor 
have we a right to preach their salva- 
tion, unless we can prove it by the 
revelation of God. We admit that 
very plausible inferences may be 
drawn of their salvation, at least, 
where God in his providence inter- 
feres (with those children of believing 
parents, or those brought under their 
care,) by death, or otherwise. Wedo 
not believe that they will be saved 
merely from the fact that they are re. 


| der, or to be instrumental in breaking ; 


fed. 


deemed, though their rede 

the blood of Christ underlies tl 
sibility of their salvation apart 
every other consideration ; they eat 
not be saved without it. Neither do 


we believe that the faith of the parent — 


will save it. Nor do we believe that — 
the design or the desire of the believ- 4 
ing parent will save it. Though the — 


faith, design or desire may have this — 


bearing in the case, viz.: not to hin-— 


the covenant. For, where the coye-— 
nant is not broken, we would plead — 
safety. But the covenant is broken 


on the part of all the unbaptized, — 


where it has been neglected or reject- — 


lievers. But, where believers are proy- 
identially hindered in the dedication 
of their children, there is no revealed 
sense in which the covenant could be 
accounted as broken; as the parent — 
did not break it; and the child, other- 
wise, than through the parent, could — 
not. It is reasonable, at least plausi- 
ble, to conclude, that the child dying 
under such circumstances has gone 
happily. Not that >the faith, desien, : 


| or desire of the parent has sayed it: 


In this case, unbelief, rejection and 
neglect have not stood m the way. 


| For if it is saved, God saves it through 


his grace, offered to all in the cove- 
nant, the covenant not being broken 
on the part of the parent, hence, not 
of the child; and God will not, nor 
can he break it. But if the neglect, 
rejection and unbelief of the parent 
have no bearing at all in the case : we 
may draw favorable conclusions for 
all unbaptized infants dying in infan- 
cy. Those maintaining this last po- 
sition, let them, if they be able, prove 
that negléct and rejection haye no 
bearing in the case. : 


This no doubt is true in regard — 
| to all the unbaptized children of wnbe-— 


———T 


ey. 

i 

my a 
a ; INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 53 
a = 

* Again, under the old dispensation | not to hinder them from coming, or 


the child could not be circumcised be- 
fore the Sth day after its birth; be- 
cause if was ceremoniously unclean 
seven days. Ofcourse we do not just 
now recollect an instance, (and we do 
not say there ever was one,) of the 
death of a child in the commonwealth 
of Israel, before the 8th day. But let 
“US suppose such a case. Now, we 


would not presume, that, in this case, 


the infant or parent could be said to 
-have broken God’s covenant in that 
it was not circumcised: tor God's law 
forbid it till the 8th day. Now sup- 
pose it was safe seven days, not hay- 
ing broken His covenant, will this 


warrant its safety any farther? Cer- | 


tainly not; for the uncircumcised 
mau-child after the Sth day is said to 
_ have broken God’s covenant. 
it died before the 8th day, it is plaus- 
ible to conclude it was saved: not on 
account of its birth trom believing 
parents, hor on account of their faith, 
design or desire as the ground of sal- 
vation, for if it was saved, it was done 
through the blood of Christ being ap- 
plied by the Holy Spirit, through the 
uncovenanted mercies of God, the eov- 
enant being not yet broken. 
here is the “Tug.” But we have not 
through and positively prove their 
salvation a truism; our object being 
to present it in the most plausible 
light. The best, however, that we 
eau possibly make of it, is speculation. 
We should therefore be careful not to 
make certainties out of the things 


which can only be regarded as plausi- | 


ble. Although we deny that the faith 
of parents, their design, or desire, or 
even the circumstance of children be- 
ing born of believing parents, makes 
them subjects of God’s kingdom, it 
can only have the favorable bearing 


But if 


Right , 


; entering ; whereas unbelieving par- 
) ents, having no desire for heaven, for 
, themselves, nor their children, reject 
the saving knowledge of God, and are 
therefore rejected; hence “Seeing 
thou hast forgotten the law of thy 
God, I will also forget thy children.” 
Hosea 4,6. Again, the children of 
believing parents, or children which 
may have been bought by, or bound 
| to a believer, or brought under his 
| guardianship in any way whatever, 
| brings about such a relation for such 
children, that others who are afar off 
| in this respect cannot ordinarily enjoy 
|it. Andif they remain afar off dur- 
'ing their natural lifetime, and ever 
| ave saved, it will be done aside trom 
any revealed order whatever. 

Again, the believing parent or guar- 
dian of children might in some degree 
serve as the “minister.”—“ Steward of 
, the mysteries of God,” (1 Cor. 4, 1,)— 
_as well as an ordained minister; and 
_ Still no one is in a saved state merely 
| because he may be under the care or 
in reach of an ordained minister of 

Christ: it may prove a “savor of 
, death unto death.” still we wouid pre- 
fer being under his care, to that of 


being out of his reach: though his. 
even intimated that we can pull: 


| faith, design, or desire would not save 
| Such individual, in itself considered, 
)and might possibly have nothing at 
all to do in it: At least, if we admit 
the possibility of a minister preaching 
the Gospel of Christ, and administer- 
ing the sacraments according to their 
, divine institution, whilst he himself 


| may be in state of unbelief, and des- 
| titute of any proper design or desire. 
_And it is possible too, for an unbe- 
| lieving parent to do for the child what 
'God has commanded to be done, and 
| the child be in a safe relation regard- 
less of the unbelief of such parents: 


‘For God does the saving through his 
own appointed means, the Word and 
the Sacraments; and if any one is 
saved aside from these appointed 
means, such person is not saved in 
the ordinary way, but in some extra- 
ordinary way, not revealed in the coy- 
enant of grace. We know God is not 
tied to means, bat we are. But says 
one, if God does the saving, why talk 
about ministers, believing parents, or 
unbelieving, as having anything to do 
any way in the salvation of a person. 
- Weanswer, in the language of St. Paul, 
2 Cor. 5, 18-20. “And all things are 
of God, who hath reconciled us to 
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath 
given to us the ministry of reconcilia- 
tion; to wit, that God was in Christ, 
reconciling the world unto himself, 
not imputing their trespasses unto 
them; and hath committed unto us 
the Word of Reconciliation. Now 
then we are Ambassadors For Christ, 
As Though God Did Beseech You By 
Us: We pray You In Christ’s Stead, 
Be Ye Reconciled To God.” Now God 
saves (ordinarily) by means, and with- 
out means we cannot positively say 
how it is. The being born of beliey- 
ing parents is not a means of grace. 
But such children have a great ad- 
vantage over those of unbelieving 
parents, because they are within the 
reach of the means of grace as they 
belong to the people of God. But, 
the objector will say, little children 


cannot be benefited by the means of 


grace. This shall be examined more 
fully ir another place. 


Now, let those who reject baptism | owl appointed institutions in attempt- 
as ameans of regeneration, prove if| ing to hold out hopes to any, except — 
they can, that God saves without | they be similarly situated. No insti- 


means. We do not affirm that he 


does not, but what we affirm, is that] and after it is instituted, no one can 


if he anne the fact is not revealed. 


Some seem to think, because God | comfort: himself. by saying ovhans were | 


saves us by grace, thats therefore he > 
saves without means, hence they are | 
prepared to comfort negligent parents, - 
and even the heathen who are de- 
prived of the means of grace ; and by 4 
such a course, lead many away from | 
Gods divinels appointed order of. 
communicating his grace to us and— 
our children, The speculative preach- 
ing, which undertakes to bring us | 
and our children into the chureh of 
God aside from his own appointed — 
order, lies at the foundation of all the | 
negligence of professing Christians, 
and is calculated to establish the prin- . 
ciples of the Baptists, and finally 
heathenism itself. True enough, tes- 
timony has been produced that Abra-_ 
ham “received the sign of cireumcis- 
ion, a seal of the righteousness of the 
faith which he had, yet being uneir- 
cumcised.” Rom. 4,11. And to in- 
crease the weight of such argument, 
we might add other facts, such as the - 
salvation realized by the thief on the 
cross. Luke 23, 42,43. What shall 
we then say to it? Why! that under 
similar circumstances, we may draw — 
similar conclusions. But, to say that — 
because the thief was saved without 
being baptiged, therefore we shall, 
who are differently situated, is a fal- 
lacious argument. Or to say, because 
Abraham was a_ believer before he 
was circumcised, and therefore cir- 
cumcision was not necessary to his 
salvation, is equally fallacious. Such 
cases alone have their application 
under similar circumstances. And 
we have no right to trifle with God’s 


& 


tution is binding until it isinstituted ; 


| possibly neglect or reject it, and then 


g nach 


INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. t 


t 


5 


blessed and saved before its institu- 
tion, therefore I may. Step aside 
from this order, and then you are 
found dealing with extraordinary 
cases; and no sound reasoner will 
blend ordinary with extraordinary 
cases. 

Again, it is said, (LZ. V. p. 126, 2d 
col.) “The people of Israel who went 
up out of Egypt perished in the wil- 
derness, yet their children, wncircwm- 
cised, were of Israel, and were Israel. 
So now, if God would destroy in one 
day all Christian parents, and all the 
adult members of his church, yet the 
infants of these Christian parents 
would be the church, and would con- 
stitute the Christian church in the 
world.” 

We reply, in the case of the Israel- 
ites, all the adult members were not 
destroyed. All the men of war were 
destroyed. Joshua and Caleb were 
not destroyed: they were adult mem- 
bers, and no doubt the only circum- 
cised in the Israelitish host that pass- 
ed oyer Jordan; and the prominent 
relation that they sustained to the 
‘host of Israel was the only remaining 
discoverable condition to preclude the 
necessity of an entirely new constitu- 
tion of the church of God on the earth, 
so far at least, as this people was con- 
cerned. Now, let the author of the 
sermon suppose a fair specimen, from 
which to draw his conclusion, and it 
will not appear to be quite so plausible. 
Suppose, then, in reality, that God 
would in a single day destroy all be- 
lieving parents, and all believing 
adults, leaving no Caleb, no Joshua, 
no baptized adult, youth or infant, 
and then let him say that the unbap- 
tized children of believing parents 
now constitute the Christian church 
of God on earth, and he will have the 
church on earth under very extraordi- 


| 


| 


| 


nary circumstances, indeed—so much 
so, that it might be necessary for the 
“Tirshatha” to say “unto them, that 
they should not eat of the most holy 
things, till there stood up a priest 
with Urim and with Thummim.” 
Ezra 2, 63. No doubt, God could and 
would provide for them. But still, (if 
such a state of things would take 
place, which we know will not, till 
time be no more,) God might say, 
with cause sufficient: “My people are 
destroyed for lack of knowledge ; be- 
cause thou hast rejected knowledge, 
I will also reject thee, that thou shalt 
be no priest to me: seeing thou hast 
forgotten the law of thy God, I will 
also forget thy children.” Hosea 4, 6. 

It must be remembered that the 
omission of the circumcision of the 
children of Israel, was by no means 
an indication that they were ina very 
favorable relation with God, at this 
time, as we could abundantly show, if 
it may be required ;'but having al- 
ready written at greater iength than 
we desired, we shall close our remarks 
on this part of the subject. It is dif 
ficult to discuss a subject of this ehar- 
acter in a few words. 

The reader’s humble servant, 

P. C. HENKEL. 
( Conclusion.) 


ERRATA.—The author living at a distance from the offic 
having seen proof, a few errors have crept into this pamphlet, wh 
‘to correct as follows: 

Page 3, 2d column, goth line from top, for ‘“Job,’’ read jam 

Page 5, Ist column, 16th line from bottom, for ‘‘But it is agr 

Page 8, 2d column, 20th line from bottom, for ‘If is,” read 

Page Io, ed column, 7th line from De ohio for ‘‘Over,’’ read 


| father, ane } Ao 
Page 27, Ist column, 5th line from bottom, for ‘“‘salvation,”’ om 
Page 29, Ist column, 2oth line from top, for “‘sat,’’ read se/. 
Same page and column, 7th line from bottom, for ‘‘za:d,’’ read 
bottom make the same change. 
Page 44, 1st column, 5th line from bottom, for ‘“‘the children, » 
There are some other inaccuracies, which do not materially c 
to be conveyed, which the judicious reader will please cara 


ere ON ERLX: 


Le se Bap 


\[ODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
SS 
fee Ee. ELEN REE Doe 


CONOVER, Ni €. 


1888. 


THE MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


By Rev. P. C. HENKEL, D. D., CONOVER, N. C. 


— 


CHAPTER I. , would be quite different to the fallen 
eT tree. Now to make the fallen tree 
ans: the mode by which the tree was 
brought down, would seem to be so 

nonsensical, that a Solomon, at least. 


That Baptism isa divine institution 
(Matt. 28) needs no further proof, and 
that it is perpetually binding on the 
children of men to the end of time, is 
equally evident. 

In order that Baptism may exist in 
form, or be individually received, the 
essentials in view of it as a sacra- 
ment, must be at hand, viz.: Water, 
and the words of the institution,—an 
administrator, aud a subject or sub- 
jects for its reception, otherwise, the 
Christian baptism could have no form 
of existence. 


would see that there is a difference 
between the mode of doing things, 
and the result of such action. 

My object is, to aid the simplest in- 
tellect to ascertain the facts as they 
really are. Baptists say, the mode of 
baptism is immersion, and that im- 
mersion is baptism. The ax, the saw, 
the chisel, the auger. and the teeth 
are the fallen tree, and the fallen tree 
is the ax, the saw, the chisel, the 
auger, and the teeth!!! There is a 

In view also of its administration, | proper mode or manner of doing a 
there must be a mode by which it is thing, but the thing done, is not the 
administered, or no one could receive | mode, nor the manner of doing it. 
it; and it is also manifest that there | Neither does the thing done, nor the 
is adifference between the result of | thing completed, necessarily show the 
an action, and the action itself, as| mode by which it was done. As an 
the same result may take place by | example, if we were to see an object 
different modes of performance. entirely under the water, this would 

In felling a tree the common mode| not prove that the mode of getting 
of doing it, is to take an ax and chop | under was dipping; or diving under. 
it down; or we might use other modes | The mode by which this resalt gb- 
to get it down; we might take a saw,| tained. could have taken place by 
and saw it down; or a chisel, or an pourimg, sprinkling, falling upon, or 
auger, or, if we had teeth suiticiently rising over. The action of dipping, 
Strong and durable, we might bite it | OF immersing, or overwhelming, is not 
down. But the biting, boring, chisel- | immersion, but would only result in 
ing, sawing, or chopping, as to mode, | immersion, when the act oracts would 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


overwheiming could take place. 

We have already 
administrator, and a subject to be 
baptized, as well as the sacramental 
elements, the earthly (water) and the 
heavenly (the words of the institution) 


are necessary in order that a baptism | 


may take form, or be administered, 
-and received. But the question nee- 
essarily arises, who is to perform the 
act of heme ? Doubtless all would 
answer,—the minister or administra- 
tor. We might auswer, yes; this is 
cousistent enough. Very well. But 
we will ask whether the subject to be 


baptized is to perform any part of'| 


the act of baptizing, either in apply- 
ing @ part of the words, or a part only 
ofthe water? (!!!) Oh! says one, the 
minister is to dv the work of adminis- 
tering. Then the question arises, do 


Baptist ministers totaily immerse or | 


dip their subjects under ? We answer 
most emphatically, no. TI once saw as 
many as 20 persons wade into the wa- 
ter with their minister who was lead- 
ing oue into the place where he ex- 
pected to perform the work; but 
wading was not dipping the subject 


under the water, nor could we say | ; 
| or sprinkling the baptizing element 


that he did the wading of the subject 


stated that an} 


be continuel till immersion or a total | under and then lift it out agi 


! 


\ 


which he was leading, and he had no. 
hand at all in wading the crowd that. 


followed him to the place where he 
took his stand to put the upper part 


of his subject, or subjects, under the | 


water, which had not gotten under by 
wading. Now, 


not .go in up to his chin, and then 
have the minister to use the words, 
whilst the subject dives or ducks his 
head under himself ? 


If the mivister is to do the work of 


baptizing he must take up his subject, 
and take it into the water, and put it 


if one can wade in | 
waist deep, or something like it, why | 


| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
i} 


put it back on the land again, o 
wise, he should never pretend t 
claim that he ever totally immersed 
any one. If the word #azz:fo means — 
dipping or putting under, and means 
nothing else as Baptists pretend, and 
this is its only Seriptural meaning, 
then they should not construe it by 
their act to mean leading, or wading 
into, and dipping the balanee, which 
is not as yet waded under, that is, to. 
put the upper part of the body under. 
But one will say, Philip and the 
Eunuch went in, and beth must have 
waded in. Very well, when we get 
along as far as that with our lesson, 
you shall have more than you are 4 
willing to receive, unless you shall 
become willing to receive the truth. 

Now, I have no hesitaney in saying 

that there is not the most distant — 
shadow of evidence within the lids of 
the Bible favoring the idea of total 

immersion, so far as it relates to Chris- 
tian baptism unless some one in mod- — 

ern days has written itonsomeof the — 
blank leaves in his or her Bible. 
Neither would I affirm that baptism 
could not result by a mode different 
from sprinkling; although applying, 


to the subject 1s the only wae ; 
mode of baptism. A 


We wish to extend our preliminary 
remarks some farther. 

When positions are taken by men 
who have had some literary culture, 
the populace are often carried away by 
the simple appearanee of things, such 
as, “he is a very fine speaker,” or he 
is a polished graduate, &c., and the — 
thought is not takenas to whether 
such men might not be mistaken, or 
possibly may not care whether their 
position is correct or not, if it will 
only meet with a popular reception.— 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. dD 


With some, an idea is prevailing that 
all denominations are right, and hence, 
one is as near holding the truth as an- 
other, and therefore controversy 
should end; and all denominations 
unite in one general body. Accord- 
img to this unionistic spirit of indiffer- 
entisin, there is not one false teacher 
in the world, and no danger, that any 
one will ever be deceived. Now, ae- 
cording to such a Satanic position, the 
Seriptures must be false, which aftirm 
the opposite. See Matt. 24.4,5; 2 
John; Eph. 5,6; Col. 2,8, 18; 2 Thess. 
2,3. I feel assured that we cannot 
set forth the truth too plainly in op- 
position to error. 

I do not approve of offending any 
one unnecessarily; but, to permit 
God’s Word to be so twisted, as to 
Support an absurdity, and sustain a 
falsehood, with a view of sparing the 
feelings of an errorist, or false teach- 
er, [regard as damnable. “Let God 
be true, but every man a liar. ”— 
Rom. 3, 4. 

Then let us direct our attention to 
the sacred Scriptures, and see wheth- 
er we can learn from them the Bible 
mode of baptism. 

There are various positions taken 
by the Baptist family, if possible, to 
Sustain the position, that nothing 
short of an overwhelming in, water 
can be a proper baptism. Amongst 
the different positions taken to prove 
immersion, some resort to the circum. 
Stances where it is said:—“and they 
went down both into the water.”— 


Acts 8, 38; also, Matt. 3, 6: “© And | 
were baptized of him in Jordan ; and | 


v.16: “Went up straightway out of 
the water,” &e., and other places of 
similar import. On such portions of 
Scripture, 1 have heard Baptist min- 
isters plead long and loud, most posi- 
tively aftirming that the mode of 


overwhelming in water is sustained 
by such sentences. I must contend, 
in all candor, that there is not the 
most distant hint given in such places 
in regard to any mode of baptism 
whatever. If baptizing in Jordan 
means under Jordan’s water, what 
does it mean when itis said: “John 
did baptize in the wilderness.” Mark 
1,4. The wilderness does not mean 
water, ariver, a creek, a branch, a 
pond, or spring. Again, John 1, 28: 
“These things were done in Bethabara, 
beyond Jordan.” See John 10, 40: 
Jesus “went away again beyond Jor- 
dan, into the place where John at 
first baptized; and there he abode.” 
John 3,23: “And John also was 
baptizing in Enon, near Salim, be- 
cause there was much water there.” 
Now there is not one word in all this, 
about any mode of baptism whatever. 
If in Jordan, means dipped in what it 
took to constitute the stream of Jor- 
dan, then also, in the wilderness, must 
mean dipped into what it takes to 
constitute the wilderness, and so too 
we could affirm of Enon, Bethabara, 
and Salim. Now, that persons were 
dipped in these towns, so as to be im- 
mersed in the houses, or covered over 
with wilderness as it is supposed that 
they were covered over with water in 
the Jordan, is so extremely nonsensi- 
cal, that no one of a sound mind could 
so conclude : 

John 10, 40: Jesus “went away 
again beyond Jordan into the place 
where John at first baptized; and 
there he abode.” 

Bethabara was a town beyond Jor- 
| dan nearly opposite Jericho, from Je- 
| rusalem, in which John baptized; and 

this no doubt is the place to. which 
Jesus went and abode; as itis not 
likely that he went and abode in a 
water course, as a Baptist would be 


6 


likely to conclude; as a water course 
is about the first thing that a Baptist 
would be likely to think of as being 
the place iu which John at first dip- 
ped, or immersed his subjects!! But 
one will enquire whether Philip and 
the Eunuch did not go down tnto the 
water, and come up out of it, and 
therefore, must have been under? I 
answer: It is strange, very strange, 
how some people will jump at conelu- 
sions, without haying any premises to 
sustain them in their conclusions. 

We will simply ask the reader to 
turn to Acts 8, 38,39. Now bear in 
mind the Baptist argument. They 
say to go down into means to be un- 
der, and to come up out of, implies to 
have been under. Well, if this is true, 
then we ask, which of the two was 
the deepest under, Philip or the 
Eunuch, as they both went down into, 
and both came up ont of ? When they 
were both totally under the water how 
could Philip dip bim under? If so, 
we would suggest the propriety of an 
improvement in dipping, toour modern 
Baptist friends! Well, some one may 
ask: what sort of an improvement ? 
We reply, that when there is another 
subject to be dipped, try the experi- 
ment; let the preacher with his sub- 
ject go-down into (which means to be 
totally under it according to their 
view) the water, and when they are 
thus under, (that is, into it,) let the 
preacher'then dip his subject under, 
and then, if they are not drowned by 
this time, they can Joth come up out 
of it; for, down into, and up out of, 
implies to have been under!!! You 
see, this is a masterly way to prove 
immersion, by the prepositions into 
and out ef! But if you will say, it 
proves too much, in this instance, 
much more than we wish!! Wellthen, 
we wouid advise you in future not to 


“MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


depend on the prepe 
out of, as. proof ef i 
will always make your 
powerful, and will therefore 
nothing at allin regard to | 
of baptism. But you will 
say: in this instance we do not r 
on it, as elsewhere. 1st 

we rely on the word PRES 9 -W 

we will see to it further on, that you 
shall meet with no better success in 
making your cue by the word BaxecLa, 
than by the words into and out of.—_ 
But it is insinuated in the above, that n 
into and out of, do establish the idea — 
of dip under elsewhere. Well, if these — 
little words prove too much in Acts 8, — 
is it not likely that they will prove 
too much elsewhere? Suppose we © 
think for a few moments about the 
work of Join the Baptist. Well, he ' 
baptized ia the river Jordan, and im 
as well as into, means to be under, ac- — 
cording to the Baptist idea. Now, if 
he was under all the time he was IN, ~ 
and engaged in dipping, as you will 
have it, he must rather have been 
some kind of an amphibious sort of a 
man, or he would also have been 
drowned, before he could have dipped 
even the second subject. Is it poss 
ble that an intelligent Baptist preach- 
er cannot see the absurdity of attempt- — | 
ing to prove immersion by the use of — 
the words in and into. 


There is no evidence whatey a 
Jon immersed any one, whether ¥ we 
select Enon, Bethabara, the wilder-_ 
ness, or the river Jordan, as instances — 


of proof. They simply specify no mode 
wliat ever, but only give us informa- — 
tion that he baptized in these places, 
leaving us to learn, from other por- 
tions of the Scripture, what the mode 
of baptism is. : 

The prepositions, én, into, and out 
of, were never intended, by the writers 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


= 
i 


of the Testament, nor by the transia- 
tors of the same, to prove or show 
any part ofthe mode or manner 
baptizing.” 

The prepositions ev, <tc, ex, «xs, and 
azo, generally rendered in, into, and 
out of. when found connected with the 
ordinance ig baptism seem to have led 
immersionists to the conclusion, that 
dipping or immersing is the proper 
mode of baptism. 

it must be observed, that preposi- 
tions donot givesignification to verbs 
and peuns, unless they are prefixed | 
or affixed to them. They generally 
receive their meaning from the verb 

general tenor of the sentence.— 
Phere are many connections, in which 
those words occur in the Greek Testa- 
ment; and, in some of these connec- 
tions, if those words had been trans- 
lated, in, into, and out of, they would 


haye made no sense at all, in the 
English language. F 


In, ai, or by Jordan, also, to, into the 
water, and owt of the water, and from 
the water, all make equally good sense 
in English, when so used in regard to 
tiie places, and the fact, that baptism 
Was administered at those places, but 
they give 
baptism. 

We will try presently to show that 
the Greek writers did not mean to 
represent, or express, in 
John aud Philip, what is commouly 
thought to be the idea in English, by 
the word in, éxito, and out of: 
the matier of fact, whether they bap- 
tized in Jordana, or went into the wa- 
ter (as some regard it to mean under), 
it makes a0 more difference than the 
fact that they baptized in the 


ness, or in the town; or went into the 
house, like Ananias Pe when be bap- 


tized “brother Sal ;” Acts 9,17; or 


or 


us n0 clue as to the mode of | 


the cases of 


AS tO | 


wilder- | 


any other place. Forevenif they bad 
baptized in the middie of Jordan, or 
in the middie of the water, it would no 
more show what was the mode of bap- 
tism, thanii it had been administered 
in the middle of the wilderness, or in 
the middle of tle floor of the house. 
We will now try to show, that the 
Greek writers did not intend to ex- 
press the idea, in the cases of John 
and Philip, what we in English mean 
Pe y the words, in, into, and out of. As 
these prepositions are so variously 
translated, as we will hereafter show, 
there must be a rule, ora clue by whieh 
it can be known with certainty where 
these little words are used, when they 
weut in, or went out, or only went fo, 
or from. Now, inorder, that it might 
be known with certainty, when using 
the Greek language, that any one 
reaily went into a place, or out; it was 
done, and is done with as much preci- 
sion, as it can be done in English. In 
the Greek language, there is always 
something to give the certainty ; and 
in all places where this is not done, 
you may translate these little words 
just as you please, so as to give good 
sense in English, (or ia the language 
| into which you are translating) accord- 
ing to the connection in whieh they 
stand, and the matter to be communi- 
| cated ; also, observing, to make your 
English, (or whatever lang guage it may 
_be,) read properly, or grammatically. 
Iwillremark, that these little words, 
| or prepositions, are sometimes used 
in Composition with other words, that 
is, they are sometimes a part of other 
| words, and sometimes they are not. 
When joined to another word, this 
| joining, often determines the certain- 
ty of its meaning; and if it is joined 
‘to another word, aid then put after 
that word aiso, as a distinet word it- 
Seli, the repeating of this little word, 


8 MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


always determines the certainty of its 
meaning. 

Take. John 20, 4, for an example: 
“And came first to the sepulchre.” 
Greek : 
Here <> stands by itself as an inde- 
pendent word, and is rightly transla- 
ted, to; “yet went not in,” v. 5; 
Greek, ov pevtur evanddev, Here, ec 1S a 
part of the word <ieyjdev, and should 
have been translated, went in, or into, 
if the word, ov, not, had bee boon 
there. Take the 6th v..—“and went 
into the sepulehre.” Greek, xa etT- 
WAOev ets to pyypstor.— Eran hOev StS 5 here 
ero IS used twice; once as a pone of 


zat “Ade xpwtor ets To pyypstoy 


the word <oyidev; and, again, as a 
separate word. This determines 


the fact that Peter went into the 
sepulchre. Take Acts 9, 17, as an: 
other example; when Ananias went 
to baptize Saul: “And entered into 
the house.” Greek, xa: ecaydOev eis THY 
Here, again, <tc is used twice, 
once as a part of another word, viz., 

cia A0zv, and also as a separate word, 
which determines the fact that Ana- 
nias went into the house. 

This is also true in all cases, when 
the Greek writers intended to ex- 
press what we mean by those words 
in English. Now those four little 
words are used in all the instances 
about John and Philip’s baptizing, 
without any such determination. The 
proper conclusion is, that the Greek 
writers did not intend to express 
what English people generally mean 
by, in Jordan, inte the water; if they 
had, they would have so expressed 
it. In view, therefore, of a critically 
just translation, in the cases of John 
and Philip, the words should have 
been translated, at, or by Jordan, 
and to the water, also from the water. 

Whoever will take the time and 
care to examine into these points, 


. 
OK, 


: 


warped some other way, pote ‘be- 


ginning the examination.. These 
words, however, if taken according 


to the present translation of the Bible, 


have nothing todo in determining 
the mode of baptism; 
point out the places where they bap- 
tized, or the circumstances otherwise 
relative to the facts. 

As promised, a few instances out 
of the many, which might be given, 
will now be reterred to, showing that 
a different rendering must often be 
given to <, es, &¢., to make good, or 
common sense in the translation. 
The little word ey, is translated at, in 
the New Testament, more than 100 
times, and in some 150 places it is 
rendered with, and in others by the 
preposition by; as, for instance, 1 
John 5, 6, he came not (<7) by water 
only, but, «, by water and blood; 
not in water, and in blood. Many 
other instances might be given, but it 
is not considered necessary. Exc, trans- 
lated into, is found in connection 
with baptism, e. g., Philip and the 
Eunuch went down both into the 
water. Acts 8. It is concluded 
from this, that immersion is indicated. 
It is supposed, that motion to, and 
rest in, a place is proven by the prep- 
osition <:s, into, and hence it must be 
certain that immersion was the re- 
sult of this ec, into. This, however, 
is not even plausible, as this preposi- 
tion is in many places differently ren- 
dered. There is no preposition in 
the Greek New Testament, which 
might more frequently receive a 
different rendering from that gener- 
ally given it, and still do justice te 
the text, and many passages in their 
translation might be much improved. 
Of the many which can be given, we 


they only 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 9 


1 


“notice only a few. See John 20, 3, 4. 
“Peter therefore went forth, and that 
other disciple.—erc, to (not into the 
sepulchre), so they both ran together ; 
and that other disciple did outrun 
Peter, and came first (<:<) to the sep- 
ulehre; yet went not (ec) in. Now, 
if etc always means into, the above 
passage contains a positive falsehood : 
it is clear from this alone, that the 
Baptist position is false, as the Serip- 
tures do not teach falsehoods. Again, 
John 11, 38: “Jesus therefore cometh 
(etc) to the tomb of Lazaras;” not into 
the tomb. Acts 26, 14,—“and when 
we were all fallen (ec) tp-the earth ;” 
not into the earth. 

As to the other position, in order 
to make a forcible argument of «-, 
into, in the case of the Eunuch’s bap- 
tism by Philip, and to render it cer- 
tain that immersion is indicated, it is 
asserted that e-, into, signifies mo- 
tion to, and rest in,a place. Now 
unless <:> can properly be transposed 
80 as to make it read to in, instead 
of into, for in our hard old English 
language the rest transpires before 
the motion takes place, and theretore 
we might more properly conclude, 
that it continues to rest on the bank 
of the water course, or pond, or 
spring, until Philip sprinkled the 


Kunuch, as the proper Bible mode of 


baptism was so clearly presented to 
his view, in the prophecy which he 
must have had under consideration 
while preaching to the Kunuch, as 
they were riding along. See Isa. 52, 
15, which says: ‘So shall he sprinkle 
many nations.” 

As to the other little words <x, or 
exs, and azo, rendered out of, Acts 8, 
38. Mark 1,9. Matt: 3, 16. 
es be rendered to or unto, it is evi- 
dent, that «zc and azo should be trans- 
lated from, instead of out of. From 


Now if 


is the proper translation of <- and 
azo, in many passages of Scripture. 
Matt. 3, 7, “who hath warned you to 
flee (azo) from the wrath to come bi 
is not necessary to give more instan- 
ces, as the fact is sufficiently clear. 
As from this examination of these 
little words we find nothing upon 
which Baptists can rely as proving 
their position, we shall therefore dis: 
miss this matter, so far as the little 
words ev, evs, exc, &e., are concerned. 


—————_~9»_.__@ 


CHAPTER II, 
MODE OF BAPTISM. 


WE WILL NOW CONSIDER THE WORD 
BAPTO AND ITS DERIVATIVES AS 
USED IN SCRIPTURE. 

If the ordinances, under the Old 
Testament dispensation, were admin- 
istered by the mode of immersing or 
dipping, it is but reasonable to con- 
clude that immersing or dipping is 
likely to be the mode under the New 
Testament dispensation. If, however, 
the opposite be the fact, it is equally 
fair, and in accord with common 
sense and honesty, to admit that 
sprinkling, or an application of the 
baptizing element, was made to the 
subject, under the New dispensation. 

The definitions, by most of lexicog- 
raphers, of Buztv is given as follows: 
“to dip, plunge, immerse; to wash; 
to wet, moisten, sprinkle; to steep, 
imbue; to dye, stain, to color.” But, 
to dip, to plunge, to immerse, does 
not necessarily imply to be totally 
covered over, although, English lex- 
icographers give it as a definition. 
Their definitions may very often be 
about as infallibly correct, as some 
which the Baptists themselves give; 
especially is this so, if they look to 
Scripture to establish its meaning. 


10 


“MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


Now, if it can be made appear that 
the idea of total immersion is never 
the signification of the word Barro, or 
any of its derivatives, when used with 
reference to holy baptism, or any- 
thing else set forth in the Holy Scrip- 
tures; then all men so contending, in- 
cluding lexicographers in Greek, or 
in the English language, fail to be 
any authority whatever of its mean- 
ing in Scripture ; and, hence, if every 
one of them would affirm that it 
means to dip, in a manner so as en- 
tirely to cover over the object to be 
dipped or immersed, to say the least, 
is simply to err. Lexicons may stand 
as authority, where their definitions 
cannot be successfully contradicted. 
I, however, have not as yet been able 
to see their infallibility, neither do I 
ever expect it. Many persons fail to 
find the truth, because they do not 
examine for themselves, but; take the 
statements of some eminent men as 
absolute facts, and are gulled to such 
a degree, as never to find the truth. 
The celebrated Noah Webster, in 
giving the definition of consubstan- 
tiation betrays an ignorance almost 
unpardonable. Mr. Charles Buck, 
also, in his Theological Dictionary, in 
reference to the same thing, as also 
Joseph E. Worcester, LL. D., in his 
Unabridged Dictionary, in giving the 
definition of consubstantiation, does 
the Lutheran church injustice, and 
makes a: false impression as far as 
such statements are read, and beliey- 
ed. Come then, my Baptist friends, 
and all others, and let us reason to- 
gether in the light of divine Revela- 
tion, regardless of what lexicogra- 
phlers may say, when their definitions 
come in conflict with known facts. 


faxtizpa are derived; and as deriva- 


tives, they can never mean mor 
the root from which they are derived 
does, without exhausting the ‘root, 
and rendering it obsolete. It is 
doubtful, however, whether deriva- 


| tives ever signify as much as their 


radicals. Bazto is never found in 
connection with the institution of 
baptism, nor rendered in English, 
baptize, neither is baptism ever given 
as the result which follows the act 
expressed by the word fazro. A few 


examples will now be given. It oc- 


curs in Matt. 26, 23 and John 13, 26. 
I admit, that the translation in both 
passages 1s gogrect; and I further ad- 
mit that a total immersion of the 
hand of Judas was a possibility; but 
I do not admit the most distant prob- 
ability that even Judas dipped his 
hand into the dish, so as to cover his 
hand in the sauce up to his wrist. 
Neither could all the Baptist minis- 
ters in the world ever lead me to be- 
lieve that Jesus Christ, would eat 
after such a hoggish manner, nor 
could all the most eloquent Baptist 
ministers ever cause me for one mo- 
ment to admit that Jesus would have 
eaten with a man out of a dish, while 
such total plunging of the hand was 
the mode,ot eating. Now, come, my 
Baptist friends, let us reason togeth- 


er like honest men should do; but 


let me tell you in all good earnest 
what you will.be compelled to do be- 
fore I can reason with you any far- 


| ther on the above text, as [ cannot 


see the most distant shadow of proof 
that total immersion was the result 


| 


of the “dippeth” (the Bazcaz or the — 


found in the Greek New 
If you will prove that 


ep,Bancas ) 


Testament. 


the dish into which the dipping was — 
The Greek word fazro is the radi- | done, was deep enough to contain a 
cal or root from which fazz:%o and suficien depth of broth, and that 


this quantity of broth was really in| 


/ 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 11 


the dish at the time the dipping took bird, is to set up the idea, that the 
place, and also that the dipping of | Slain bird must have had much more 
the hands was such as to cover the! blood than the bulk of its own body. 
hands totally up to the wrists, I will! As to the import of the 51st verse, it 
give it up, that you at least have | is similar to the 6th verse. Dr. Lucus, 
found one instance in which faz} a Campbellite minister, in a four-days ~ 
means total immersion. This is one} discussion with me, in Fredericktown, 
of the strongest proofs that I am ac-/| Madison Co., Mo., tried, however, to 
quainted with, to establish total im-| make it appear, that the blood and 
mersion, as the result of facrv,in the! running water constituted a bath 
Scriptures; as in other instances | sufficient for immersion ; but we made 
where faz- occurs, there is something | it appear, we think, to his satisfac- 
by which we can see that total immer- | tion, or at least beyond his powers of 
sion could not have been the result. | successful contradiction, that there 


In the texts above referred to (Matt. | 
26, 23; John 13, 26) there ig not any- | 
thing by which we can prove that 
the dish was not large enough, and | 
deep enough, and broth enough in it 
to cover a man’s hand, neither can [ 
prove by a thus saith the Lord, that 
they did not plunge their hands into 
the broth up to the wrist, in this’ 
imaginary deep dish, and soI will 
have to let the reader decide tor him- 
self, and leave the Baptist minister 
to establish his claim, that fa--o 
means total immersion. 

We will now refer to other instances 
in Scripture, where we are not likely 
to have so much difficulty in proving 
that Za=-» does not establish total im- 
mersion as the result of dipping. The 
next instance which we will take into 
consideration is found in Ley. 14, 6, | 
also, v. 51: “As for the living bird, he 
shall take it and the cedar wood, and | 
the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall | 
dip, (fagz:,) them and the living bird 
in the blood of the bird that was killed | 
overrunning water.” That the living 
bird—the cedar wood—the scarlet 


are two distinct acts set forth; first, - 
a dipping of the living bird, &e., into 
the blood of the slain bird, and see- 
ondly into the running water; and as 
the first could ndt have resulted ina 
total immersion, for the want of a 
sufficient quantity of blood to dip in; 
and hence, it is not likely that the 
last dipping was different from the 
first, as to mode. I suppose the dip 
or the plunge into the blood, and then 
into the running water, was about 
as deep into the blood, and then in- 
to the running water, as the hand 
of Judas was plunged into the broth 
in that imaginary deep dishful of 
gravy or whatever it may have been. 

Bazzo occurs in Rey. 19, 13—“And 
he was clothed ina vesture dipped 
(BeSanperor) in blood: and his name 
is called the Word of God.” The 
dipping in this place certainly 
means, to sprinkle, dye, color, wet, 
tinge, or moisten; and it can in no 
sense whatever, mean the taking of 
the vesture of Jesus and plunging it 
in his own blood, neither can it pos- 


and | sibly mean the wading of the person 


the hyssop could have been dipped in |of Jesus into his own blood some- 


the blood of the slain bird, is very 
probable, but that this dipping re- 
sulted in a total immersion of all that 
was dipped in the blood of the slain 


thing like waist deep, and then to 
plunge the upper part under the 
blood, as a Baptist does when leading 
his subject into a river, or ereek, or 


12 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


pond to dip, or immerse him as he 
thinks, nor will it bear the most su- 
perficial criticism, even if a Baptist 
would conclude to improve his plan 
of immersion so as. really, totally to 
immerse his subject by taking him 
up on the Jand and earrying him in 
and putting him under, and then put 
him back on the land again. Just 
think, to wade, or to carry the vesture 
of Jesus into his own blood, and then 
to plunge or immerse it!!! 

The baptism of Jesus, (Matt. 20, 22, 
23) and described in its awfully oh 
lime and bloody grandeur, Rev. 
13, was foretold and preached by 
Isaiah near 700 years before Christ 


came to bleed and die for the sins of 


the world. It was foretold, we say, 
in Isaiah 63—in regard to its mode, 
and its divine efficacy, in terms so 
grand, that no finite intellects can 
improve the description. He is de- 
scribed as avintager and a military 
chieftain, in terms so awfully grand 
that [ will invite the reader to turn 
to the divine description itself, as it 
can never be improved. We learn 
from the description in Rev. 19, and 
Isa. 63, that the mode of the Bzéap- 
vevwy IN Revelations was that of dye- 
ing, sprinkling, or staining. Dr. M. 
Luther translates it into German be- 
sprenget, besprinkel. Bazco must mean 
to sprinkle as well as dip, and dip 
never in Scripture means to totally 
immerse anything. If an instance 
could be found in propheey which 
would so forcibly establish total im- 
mersion, as the above texts establish 
the fact that Barco means to dye, col- 
or, stain, or sprinkle, we would ever 
after be ashamed to utter one word 
in favor of sprinkle, or of applying the 
baptizing element tothe subject. But 
let Baptists produce instances, from 
the Prophets, it they can, which say 


19, | 


that Christ’s garments 
into his blood, or sa 


| their subjects = water now. ) 
| dip, in Rey. 19, 13, is the fulfillment 
of the sprinkle so plainly given in Isa. * 
63) cl vo. fam 
It seems unnecessary to pursue — 
this radical any farther, as it never 
in Scripture signifies total immersion. 
BarctSo aud fSarccpa being derived | 
from Jazze. it is evident that the root — 
is the stronger word, as derivatives 
generally lose something of the force, 
strength, and signifieation of their 
primaries; and, hence, if there was — 
no other testimony disproving fazt:Zo 
as invariably ov even generally mean- 
ing “to immerse ;” the single estab- 
lished fact, that fazzo, its root, means 
to stain, to dye, to color (as just 
above shown), to wet, to wash, to 
moisten, to sprinkle, as well as to dip 
partially, is sufficient, forever to ex- 
plode the idea that a total overwhelm- 
ing, or submersion is the only signi- 
fication of the above mentioned 
Greek terms. It would seem almost 
a useless consumption of time to 


terms any farther, as there is nothing 
in Scripture where these terms oceur, 
that at all indicates that the subjects 
| baptized, or that did the baptizing, 
were immersed, or that any one d i 
immerse when bapbtaia any one. 

In Acts 1, 5, ic is written: “For 
John truly baptized with water; but 
ye shall be baptized with the Holy 
Ghost not many days hence.” 

From the above it is evident that 
whatever was the mode of the Holy 
Ghost. baptism must also have been — 
the mode of John’s baptism. Now, if 
with the Holy Ghost means pouring, — 
or falling upon, &c.; then, with water — 


prosecute the examination of these 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. pies 


must also mean pouring er falling 
upon, or applying the baptizing ele- 
ment to the subject. Whatever is 
the mode of the Holy Ghost baptism 
is the mode of John’s baptism most 
assuredly. Now, if the Baptists 


ing place by pouring, Acts 2, 17, 
falling upon, Acts 10, 44, 45; chap. 
11, 15, 16, 17,) was not applying the 
| baptizing element to the subjects, 
then it is not possible to learn any 
fact whatever from the Scriptures. 
could find an instance so favorable to! Bear in wind, Christ says Acts 1,5: 
immersion, as the above is in view of) John truly baptized with water; but 
the mode of pouring, we could never | ye shall be baptized with the Holy 
entertain the hope that we could re-| Ghost not many days heree. Im- 
fute them, that is if the Holy Ghost | mersionists contend that Barzto has 
baptism was performed by dipping} but one meaning, and if so, then it 
or plunging the subjects into it, then | has the same meaning each time it is 
it would follow that John also dipped | used in the above divine declarations. 
or plunged his subjects under the | But if it has a different signification, 
water. For if with water means to | when connected with the Holy Ghost, 
dip or immerse, then with the Holy | from that, as when connected with 
Ghost must also mean to dip or im-| water; it will be clear, that the unity 
merse, as John’s baptism in regard ‘of signification contended for by im- 
fo mode must correspond to the mode | mersionists is forever exploded. The 
of the Holy Ghost baptism. For! mode of the Holy Ghost baptism was 
John truly baptized with water, but: pouring out the baptizing element on 
ye shall be baptized with the Holy | the subject, so was John’s also, or 
Ghost not many days hence. To} the statements in Acts 1, 5, 8; ch. 2, 
demonstrate the mode of John’s bap-| 17, v. 33; also, chapters 10, 44, 45, 
tism, we need only to show what the | and 11, 15-17, teach nothing at all 
mode of the Holy Ghost baptism was, | on which we may rely as truth. If 
and will clearly reveal the mode of the Baptists had anything as forcible 
both indicated in Acts 1,5. Let us,| to sustain the idea of* immersion as 
then, see what the Scriptures say in| the above establishes pouring, or ap- 
regard to the Holy Ghost baptism. plying the baptizing element to the 
Come upon, pour, shed, and fell subject or subjects, they would drive 
upon are given as the definitions by us to the wall so firmly that we could 
the Holy Spirit, as the mode or} never move any more, and doubtless 
modes by which fazz:Zo and fazczpa!| put us in the asylum besides. 
were effected. Now we are abso- There is no statement existing in 


lutely bound to admit that Jesus 


Christ, the Apostle Peter, and the’ 


Holy Spirit, which spake’ through 


_ all divine revelation which would lead 
us to conclude that Jesus Christ in- 
_tended to convey different ideas by 


Peter, understood the meaning of the use of the same word in the same 
fexto; if not, then, such as will at- sentence ; we must therefore conclude 
tempt now to give the proper mean-! that by whatever mode the Holy 
ing, will only be able to set forth the , Ghost baptism was performed, is the 
folly of all the foolish fools in the! proper mode of baptism ; for no tes- 
world. If the mode, as set forth by timony can be produced, which will 
Christ, (Acts 1, 8, and clearly re-| prove that Christ employed farzfo 
vealed and defined elsewhere as tak-' when connected with water, with a 


14 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


different signification from that, he | the Holy Ghost not 
attached to it, when connected with | hence.” 


the Holy Ghost. 


tism, forever settles the action or 


mode of baptism to every honest and | clearly 


candid mind. Christ declared that it 
should “come upon” them,—Acts 1, 8. 
And Acts 2, 3, tells us, that “it sat 
upon each of them.” Moreover, Peter, 
speaking under the influence of the 
Holy Spirit, says, quoting the proph- 
ecy of Joel, that the Holy Spirit was 
“poured out” upon them. Acts 2, 17, 
and y. 33, be declares that Christ, 
“being by the right hand of God exalt- 


To settle the fact} forever all controversy in regar ro 
of the mode of the Holy Ghost bap- | the mode of baptism, as the prophecy - 


This alone shoul 


in Joel, and its fulfillment in Acts, — 
demonstrate the fact ‘that 
immersing is not the mode. als a 
As our object is to aid the weak or 
the most common reader or intellect, | 
it may be proper to indulge in pro- 
lixity. Certainly the intelligent reader 
needs if not, as the consideration of 
the above facts, puts it beyond all eon- 
tradiction, that dipping or submerg- 
ing is not the mode of baptism. For — 
the sake of such as are so easily mis- 


ed, and having received of the Father | led, we will, if possible, be more min- 


the promise ef the Holy Ghost, he 
bath shed forth this, which ye now 
see and hear.” Any one can see that 
the mode of this baptism is in aceord- 
ance with the declaration of Christ; 
he promised that the Holy Ghost 
should “come upon them,” and when 
he verified that promise he shed forth 
the spirit upon them. 

Will any one affirm in direct oppo- 
sition to the promise of Christ, and 
the plain statement of Peter in refer- 
ence to its fullfillment, that the bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost was perform- 
ed by dipping the Apostles in it? 
Will any one affirm that the mode 
was not pourmg or affusion ? For 
the sake of common honesty we 
hope no one will. 

In view of the above facts, when 
considering Acts 1,5, it is very clear 
that John never baptized otherwise 
than by applying the element to the 
subject, as he has expressed it when 
saying, “I indeed baptize vou with 
water,”—Matt. 3, li. With water, 


and with the Holy Ghost, indicate | 


one and the same mode; and Christ 
says, “John traly baptized with 
water, and ye shall be baptized with 


ute, and consiaie more in detail texts — 
alluded to in the above. The next 
instance we have of Christ baptizing 
with the Holy Ghost, isreecorded, Acts 
10, 44,45: “While Peter yet spake 
these words, the Holy Ghost fell on — 
all them, which heard the word. And — 
they of the circumcision were aston- — 
ished,—that on the Gentiles also was 
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.” 
This pouring or falling upon them ot 
the Holy Ghost, was indeed the mode 
of the Holy Ghost baptism ; as will, 
if possible, be more readily seen, if we 
look at the language of Peter, in his 
defence before the Council at Jerusa- 
lem. Peter when arraigned, excuses 
his going in, unto the Gentiles, by 
saying,—“and as I began to speak, 
the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us 
at the beginning. Then remembered I 
the Word of the Lord, how -that he 
said, John indeed baptized with wa- 
ter; but ye shall be baptized with the 
Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God 
gave them thelike gift as he did unto 
us, who believed iu the Lord Jesus — 
Christ, what was I that I could with-— 
stand God?’ Acts 11, 15-17. The 
baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the 


a ; 
~ 
—* 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


15 


Gentiles was performed after the same 
mode, that it was upon the Apostles 
in the beginning, viz., by pouring or 
shedding the Holy Ghost upon then. 


The Apostle Peter was one of the 
number that witnessed the baptism 


of the Holy Ghost on the day of 


Pentecost— Acts 2. He also heard 
the promise of the Saviour—<Acts 1, 5, 


and, in its fulfillment on the day of | 


Pentecost, Peter demonstrated the 
fact that the mode of the Holy Ghost 


baptism was porring, falling upon, : 
&c., by an appeal to the prophecy of 


Joel, ch.2. And then when preach- 


ing to Cornelius and his company he | 


had another demonstration of the 
same, which brought to his memory 
the first grand event recorded, Acts 
2. Like events bring like events to 
memory. It has been established to 
an absolute certainty that immersing 
isnot the mode of the Holy Ghost 
baptism, and the connected manner 
in which it isspoken of by our Saviour, 
Acts 1,5, with John’s baptism, equal- 
ly demonstrates the fact that Jobn 
did not immerse with water; for the 
one ‘with’ having been shown to re- 
sult by pouring, proves that the other 
‘with’ was also by pouring, otherwise 
faxz:to has more than one meaning, 
which is generally denied by immer- 
sionists. 


Is it worth while to heap up testi- 
mony on the top of testimony, to es- 


tablish a fact so self-evident, as the | 


faet that sprinkling, or applying the 


baptizing element to, the subject, is | 


the Bible mode of baptism, as there 
is not the most distant shadow of tes- 
timony in the Bible that immersing is 
the mode? In view of the teachings 
of the Bible, it is astonishing to me, 
that any one could ever have thought 
that immersing a subject in water 


| could have been the Bible mode of 
| baptism. 

i feel assured that in proportion as 
individuals left the truth as revealed 
in Seripture, and set up a system of 
emblems and representation; immer- 
sion as one of the emblems or repre- 
sentations came into practice, howey- 
er ancient it may have been. For 
the spirit of iniquity did already work 
| even in the days of the A posties—2 
Thess. 2, 7. I feel assured, however, 
| that upon an impartial examination 


‘ot ancient Christian writers that the 
| Weight of their testimony will be found 
in favor of sprinkling ; but I object to 
quoting any one of them as proof, as 
| I ever have done in my many public 
| and protracted debates with the Bap- 
| tists; having always believed that 
‘any thing that cannot be estab- 
| lished by the Bible without any other 
| help, ought not to be held as a relig- 
| ious creed, nor practiced as a religious 
| institution. 

| Weill in this connection notice 
_ the fact that the terms wash, and bap- 
| tize, are used interchangeably, and if 
| interchangeably, the one term means 
| as much as the other, and hence they 
. are synonyms, and conclusively prove 
_ that those words are not used by the 
| inspired writers to indicate total im- 
_mersion. 


| «AS instances of the correctness of 
| the above, we notice that Paul repre- 
|sents baptism as a washing—Eph. 3, 
26; Tit. 5, 5. And in Acts 22, 16, 
| Ananias uses wash as synonymous 
with baptize; if not, the word “bap- 
| tized” implies more than the “wash 
away,” or the “wash away” implies 
more than the word “baptized ;” and 
if baptized implies more than could 
or did result from it in the “wash 
away,” then the word “baptized” was 
‘not able to do what it was intended 


16 


to do, namely, to wash away sin. 
But if the washing away of sin is de- 
pendent upon a larger quantity of 
water, than is found in the term 
sprinkle or wash, and that larger 
quantity of water is found only in 
the “be baptized ” (Bazzear); then, tor 
the want of a word indicating a suffi- 
cient quantity of water, and also the 
proper word to express the proper 
mode of baptism, Ananias did not use 
the right word when using wash, 
(azodovea), to bring about the wash- 
ing away of sin. “For what good 
can a handful of water do!” says the 
Baptist. Doubtless he should have 

had it dip, all the time; hence, should 
have said, Arise and be dipped, and 
dip away thy sins, (! !! !!!) or arise 
and be immersed and immerse away 
thy sins. Poor Ananias, you have 
used wash and baptize as meaning the 
same thing. Well, Ananias! I will 
keep you between me and the Baptist 
combatants; but then you can have 
this consolation, as other divine 
statements set forth the same absur- 
dity, if you should be wrong. At 
least you are in good company. Let 
us see. Well, turn to 2 Kings 5; 
and we find another instance where 
baptize and wash are used inter- 
changeably, or as equivalent in sig- 
nification. In the 10th verse of this 
chapter, we find that the man of God 
said, “Go, and wash (dovea) seven 
times in Jordan.” We see, by com- 
paring the 14th with the 10th verse, 
that baptize (<fuzrtesato) is used to 
mean the same thing, namely, to 
wash (Aovsa), and as the action of 
dipping is not inherent in the word 
wash (Jovw), I conclude that the ren- 
dering of in the 14th 
verse, by the word dip, is wrong, and 
should have been rendered wash in 


(faxticatv) 


accordance with the “saying of the! thing. 


| ginta, 


man of God.” The E 
ppc: ee . 


in J ordan ; anid his leprosy 
cleansed. The word in fl 
(translated dipped, le 
English,) is :fSaxtieazo. Luther 1 
ders it in his noble translation—“unt 
taufete sich im Eordan seabanmal,’ : 
“and baptized himself in Jorda no 
times.” Now, it is absolutely tain 
that Naaman was commanded to ¢ o. 
and wash (Joven) in Jordan seve , 
times; and it is farthermore eviden 
that both Elisha and Naaman regard- 
ed the two words, wash and b aptize, 
as meaning the same thing. Naaman 
(verse 12,) also says: “Are not Abana 
and Pharpar, riyers of Damascus, 
better than all the waters of Israel ; , 
may I not wash (deveapat) in them, 
and be clean.” Again, while Naaman 
was still in his rage, Gehan his ser- 
vant, guided by the sober dictate of 
common sense, rebuked the folly of 
his master, saying: “My father, if the 
prophet had bid thee to do some 
great thing, wouldest thou not haye 
done it? how mueh rather then, 
when he said to thee, Wash (Auvaat), 
and be clean? y. 13. We thns see 
that Gehazi also understood that 
Naaman was commanded to wash ; 
and according to the 14th y. is 
washing took place,—according — 
the sayings of the man of God. Now, 
if “dipped” and “wash” do not mean 
the same thing, then it is not true, 


that he did what the man of God — 


commanded Naaman todo. Further — 
remarks on this are not necessary as 
the most common intellect can see. 
I will take another passage of 
Scripture into consideration in this 
connection, to show that wash and bap- 
tize are used to indicate the same — 
In Hebrews 9, 10, it is said: 


: 


A MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


‘ke 


“Which stood only in meats and 


drinks, and divers washings (d:agopur- 
Gaxztcuorc) and carnal ordinances, im- 
posed on them until the time ot refor- 
mation.” In this text there is a plu- 
tality of baptisms spoken of; hence, 
they were of more than one kind. 
They were divers, (dagopo:-.) If bap- 
tisMs (farccwurc) signify immersions 
in this text, it will follow that a plu- 
rality of immersions existed under the 
Old Testament dispensation. But how 
immersion can be of more than one 
kind, is not easily to be understood ; 
as immersion is simply immersion. 
As already stated, we see that immer- 
sion may be the result of different ac- 
tions; it may result from the action 


of sprinkling, if continued long enough; | 


still i6 would not be anymore nor any 
less than simply immersion. An ob- 
ject might be immersed in different 
things, but still it would only amount 
to immersion. If immersion is the 
mode, and the mode is immersion, then 
whatever the one is, the other must 
be the same. 

We might immerse a man in other 
things besides water; he might be im- 
mersed in sand, earth, cider, vinegar, 
molasses, tar, &c., &c., and still not 
have a plurality of immersions, unless 
we reckon the number from the differ- 
ent things used to immerse in. But 
then if we have a plurality of immer- 


sions, we must also have a plurality 


of modes, for the Baptist position is: 
“That the mode 1s immersion, and im- 
mersion is the mode,” making mode 


and immersion Synonymous; then if 


there be diverse baptisms, there must 
also be diverse modes, for if baptism 
means mode, then baptisms mean 
modes. 


in Heb. 9, 10. to tell us about a diver- 


sity of modes, and that they were all | 


immersions!! I have seen men get 
their heads so full of mode, that they 
had no room for the thing they were 
trying to give form, so it still remain- 
ed mode! If baptism is mode, then 
| be it so: “He that believeth and is 
| baptized (is moded) shall be saved! 
Reader! wherever you find the word 
| baptize in the Scriptures, substitute 
the word, immerse, or dip, or mode, 
&e., and you will find opportunities to 
be moded with the mode, or dipped 
with a dipping, &c. But the man so 
: deeply overwhelmed in the mode will 
doubtless retort and say, give like di- 
rections in regard to sprinkle, pour, 
fall upon, &c., and you will haye sim- 
ilar absurdities to follow. 

Very much obliged to you, very 
| much indeed, for the advice. When 
ever we affirm that sprinkle is bap- 
tism, and baptism is sprinkle, then do 
| not spare us, lay it on, and rub it in. 
Bear in mind, we do not admit that 
the mode of doing a thing is the thing 
itself. Remember there were divers 
baptisms under the Old Testament 
dispensation, according to the state- 
ment in Heb. 9, 10, see it in the Greek. 
{ft baptism means mode, then baptisms 
| must mean modes, then there may be 
Repag ti modes. The plain fact is, the 
| washings and the baptisms spoken of," 
Heb. 9, 10,are the same things, the 
terms are used synonymously. 

It is evident that the Apostle in- 
cludes, under baptisms (farzteporc), all 


\ 


| & 5 ~ 
the ablations of the preceding econo- _ 


My, whether done by sprinkling or 
washing. Now assprinkling of water 
upon the Jews, was by far the most 
frequent of all the applications of wa- 
ter, or of their ablutions, are we not 


| justified in holding from this language 
It certainly was not Paul’s purpose, | 


of Paul, that sprinkling was by far 
the most general mode of applying 
the ablutions in that day. See Ley. 


18 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


14,7. Num. 8,7; Num. 19,18. Itis 
also certain, that a part of the Mosaic 


economy “stood” in the sprinkling of 


oil and also of blood upon such as 
were to be cleansed. - Lev. 5, 9; Num. 
19,13; Lev. 14,16; Ex. 29,4. It is 
plain that the Baptisms reterred to in 
Heb. 9, 10, include all the legal puri- 
fications of the Jews, whether per- 
formed by sprinkling, pouring, wasbh- 
ing or dipping. 

Ifthe typical sacrifices under the Old 
Testament dispensation had been ad- 


ministered by immersing, instead of 


sprinkling as it is, we would have 
such volleys of canister, and bomb- 
shells of dip, immerse, overwhelm, 
plunge, &c., shot at us, that we would 
not be likely to be permitted to hear 
anything besides this great “twenty- 
jive barreled baptismal gun,” as Rev. 
Webb the Wandering Pilgrim puts it 
in his Baptist apology. 

Ber: one turn to Ex. 12, 3-7; Heb. 

28; 1 Pet. 1,1, 2; Heb. 12, 24, and 
me others of fiese divers sprink- 
lings of blood, and then if you could 
give the Baptist minister heaven’s au- 
thority to change these sprinklings 
into “dips” and overwhelmings we 
would have such dippings and plung- 
ings to meet, that all the geese, and 
ducks, and swans, &¢., web-footed 
fowls could not excel them. 

We, however, are not only willing 
to leave these Old Testament ceremo- 
nies in’ their typical aspect, as St. 
Paul has given them to us in the 9th 
ch. of Heb., and summed them up 
briefly in the 10th verse, but we shall 
contend for the statements as they 
are; bearing in mind, that “ when 
Moses had spoken every precept to 
all the people according to the law, 
he took the blood of calves and of 
goats, with water, and scariet wool, 
and hyssop, and sprinkled both the 


ISRO aa a rl oN ek, a Us Oe eg SE Sek Re ee Ne 


book, and all the people, 
is the blood of the te ( 
God hath enjoined unto > 

over he sprinkled with blood 1] 
tabernacle, and all the vessels 
ministry. 


And almost all things are : 


by the law purged with blood; and . 
without shedding of blood is ie re- | 


inission. Jt was therefore necessary 
that the patterns of things in the 


heavens should be purified with these; 


but the heavenly things themselves 
with better sacrifices than these.” 
Heb. 9, 19-23. 

It is very strange that the diver 
baptisms (d:agoporc, Baxteopots) or Wash- 
ings, in the Temple service of the Old 
Testament, should be so extensively 
performed by the mode of sprinkling 
or wasliing, and now under the New 
Testament dispensation, washing or 
sprinkling will not do; although the 
Apostles speak of sprinkling and 
washing as being the mode in view of 
the application of the most important 
of all that is precious, viz., the blood 
of Christ. Very strange! indeed, that 
the ordinances in the Old or Typical 
dispensation should be administered 
by sprinkling and washing; and under 
the New or Anti-typical, it must be 
immersion, and that too, in direct op- 
position to the mode plainly revealed 
in the New Testament. See Heb. 9, 

19-21, compared with ch. 10, 21, 22; 


P. 


also 1 Pet. 1; 2 Eph. 5,26. But the 


modern apostles in their emblematic 
system have changed it from “wash- 
ing of water by the word” to immers- 


ing in water by the word, whilst in — 


reality, the “word” (if used at all) is 


invariably used before the immersing ~ 


takes place, or after it is half done; 
hence, the one transpires before the 
other begins, unless we do consider 
the subject already half immersed by 
wading into the water waist deep or 


<1 “ 


: MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
ee OOS Ss at VS RR ee te SE AR Se 
something like it, when the words of | say, that I also condemn the careless 
the institution are uttered by the | manner of administration by sprink- 
minister, the subject having waded | ling or pouring, when the water is not 


19 


himself or herself generally about ) 
half way under the water; and thus | 
by this division of labor in coming in 
contact with the water by the subject ) 
wading in, and at this point being 
half (or about half) under the water, | 
the minister uses the words, and then | 
plunges the upper part of the subject | 
under the water, and by this joint co- | 
operation, in the administration of 
the water, the tio administrators suc- 
- ceed in getting the words used, in, or | 
about the middle of the use of the | 
water; but then the words are not) 
used while the subject is wading in, ; 
for when there is, or even when | 
there is not, a considerable number 
who haye waded in, as I have seen, | 
the last one before being carried | 
through the full operation has to wait ) 
a considerable length of time before | 
the words are used in his behalf; and 
when his turn comes, the ‘administra- 
tor uses the words before using the} 
water to the upper part of the body ;| 
which HE puts under, and in this 
state of the case the water and the 
word are not used simultaneously at 
-all. Iwill, however, not affirm that 
baptism “cannot be the result of such 
action, unless it can be shown that 
the word and the water cannot be con- 
sidered as being connected under such 
circumstances. I insist on using the 
water and the word simultaneously, 
according to the definition given of 
baptism by Dr. Martin Luther in his 
Small Catechism, which I most 
heartily endorse, believing it to be 
strictly in harmony with the Word of 
God. 
Let us, for a moment, briefly, look 
after the mode of baptism in another 
respect. In reference to this, I will 


applied until after the words of the 
institution have been fully used, and 
then dash or sprinkle water on the 
subject separately. 

I would just as soon call in question 
the validity of such administration, 
as that of the Baptist; and a little 
seoner, as he could do otherwise, while 
the Baptist could not, as he could not 
use the words while he is dipping. 


We deny that immersing in water, 
or sprinkling water on an individual, 
without the words of the institution, 
can be Christian baptism. 

Now, if the design to baptize on the 
part of the administrator, and the 
desire, on the part of the subject to 
be baptized in obedience to the com- 
mand of Christ, contribute nothing 
towards making it a baptism, at least 
by imputation, we bave only one al- 
ternative left from which to establish 
the fact, if it can be done from what 
remains to be considered. 

I confess that it has given me very 
great anxiety, firstly, in view of my 
otiice, and secondly, in view of the 
safety of my friends who had been 
immersed, and were led to see their 
error, and desired to be baptized prop- 
erly with the Bible mode. 

U have already shown that there 
may be more than one mode of doing 
a thing; this is without any doubt a 
fact, but if it can be shown that to 
usé the words of the institution while 
the water is not being used amounts 
to uo connection of the two elements, 
however quickly the water be used 
after the words are uttered, then it is 
certainly no Christian baptism. 

As Ihave been requested to give 
my views on this difficult subject, I 
will continue the examination of it a 


little further ; I, however, do not ex- 
pect to See a positive conclusion as 
to whether either of the above is really 
baptism. I would, however, greatly 
prefer the chances of those for salva- 
tion who had been imposed upon, but 
afterward saw their error, and em- 
braeed the truth, heartily desiring to 
render obedience to the Word of God, 
than to have the chances of such ad- 
ministrators. 5 

The late Dr. Greenwald, as also 
some other ministers, denies that the 
immersions performed by Baptists, or 
the immersions of others, are baptism 
at all. 
If I had all the treasures in the world 


I would freely give them to know of 


an absolute certainty how thisis. I 
have some very dear friends, who un- 
-der my ministerial labors came over 
from the Baptists, and greatly desired 
to be baptized with the proper Bible 
mode. Now, if thereisany man living, 
who may see what I stated above, who 
can furnish evidence that it is abso- 
lutely a proper baptism, I do most sin- 
cerely pray that the facts be furnish- 
ed me as soon as possible, as I would 
be glad to meet my friends who have 
been immersed, &c., to speak to them 
with assurance and divine authority. 
Now, I do not request any one to tell 
me that the Deitrich Catechism or the 
Pontopendon Catechism, gives im- 
mersion as a proper mode, or that Ger- 
hard, or that any ether Dogmaticians 
say so. These statements I have often 
seen, but I do not regard uninspired 
men as authority in such matters. I 
must have astatement from Scripture, 
or at least an argument fairly drawn 
from Scripture before I can regard it 
as real authority. I have been dis- 
posed to think that a person applying 
for baptism under such circumstances, 


such it would be accent im 
tism, leaving the Baptist ministers to 
render an account for choosing a 
mode which puts it out of the ques- 
tion for them to use the words and 
the water simultaneonsly, and also” 
leaving the minister who utters the 
words firstly and afterwards dashes 
or sprinkles some water on the sub- 
ject which he was intending to bap- 
tize, to render an account for his in- 
difference, neglect, or ignorance as 
the case may be. Indeed, I would 
prefer being in the water waist deep 
or something like it, to that of the 
after dasher or sprinkler, even if I did 
this part of the dipping myself, as L 
would be connected with the water 
when the Baptist minister would com- 
mence the dipping of his part of the 
subject, at least he would use the 
words (if he would use them at all) 
while my body would be partly in con- 
nection with the water, and I do be- 
lieve, I, as the subject, would be more 
consistent than the Baptist minister, 
the upper dipper. 

But some one will say, why are you 
so foolish and particular about a non- 
essential ordinance? I am not as- 
tonished to hear such a rebuke from 
any of the sects, but for ministers 
calling themselves Lutherans to speak 
so lightly of baptism as some have 
done and are still doing, as can be seen 
from what is called “AN INTEREST- 
ING COoLLoguy,” published in the 
Lutheran Visitor. That is one of the 
most ridiculous and shameful Luther- 
an colloquies that I have ever seen.— 
It may be though, that it took its 
form from their inability to read Ger- 
man with “Rev. Crouse.” In reading 


who afterwards saw his error, and!the “Colloquy,” I thonght it would 


_— 


es 


> 


21 


me MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 

‘, ; ; ' 2, ‘a 

have been a good thing if the Collo-| faith or Confession. If she will set 
quists could only have been able to| herself right on the Four Points, and, 


_ Colloquists ever got as far as the II. 


_ read Dutch, so as then not to have | 


shown the shameful ignorance, that, 
“Most of the old theologians of last 
century never got further than the X. 
Artiele of the Confession,” &c., espec- 
ially if they were called Lutherans, | 
{sit likely that “Old Fogy” and his 


Article? I am sure they have not | 
reached the IX. with any degree of | 
honesty or sincerity. It Inay be 
though, that “Old Fogy” and his Col- 
loquists cannot read German with 
Rey. Crouse. If they can, or even 
ave able toread Dutch, I would refer 
them to their old “Plan-entwurf” and 
its day, when the soundest of those 
belonging to the General Synod only 
regarded the Augsburg Confession as | 
being sound in the main, or to some | 
extent, which seems to be the position 
of “Old Fogy” and his Colloquists yet. 
Now, if they can read German or 
Dutch, they can find their kindred 
sentiment, in the “Plan-entwarf,” pub- 
lished within the first twenty-five 
years of this enlightened nineteenth 
centary, which reads “Getanfet oder 
nicht getanfet, der glaube macht uns 
selich.” Baptized or not baptized, 
faith saves us. Now, is it likely, that 
“Old Fogy and his Colloquists ever 
got as far as the J. Article, we ask 
again; if so, it seems they would not 
_ have been astonished to find Rev. C. 
looking after things in the XXV. Ar- 
ticle, nor would he have slurred “the 
“immacalate United Synod, with its 
twenty-five Articles,” &c. I will Say 
_ for the United Synod, that it has done 
well to reach even the XXVIII. Arti 
cle and would to God that she soon 
reach the Four Points, which, in fail- 
ing to do, leaves room to undermine 
the contents of the entire Lutheran 


| 
| 


then in all honesty, teach the doc- 
trines and usages as set forth m the 
XXVIII. Articles, then, and only 
then, can I co-operate in her work. ; 

In this digression I will yet say, 
that the “Old Fogy” and his Collo- 
quists would do well to “scan with 
unfaltering certainty the horribleness, 
&c., dreadful sinfulness of anionistic 
tendencies as lies in between the lines 
of the New Market edition of the. 
Book of Concord,” &c. I will also. 
add, that no set of scoffers could have 
drawn a more wicked and degrading 
picture of conduct, and ascribe it to 
St. Paul, than ‘Old Fogy’ and his 
Colloquists have done. Oh! shame !! 
Are you not capable of blushing ? 
But you may say, “Paul was-a Jew 
and lived in the first century and 
could not read German.” How do 
you know ? 

{ will say yet, that I do not wish to 
see or hear the statements of such 
so-called Lutherans, nor any sect be- 
sides them, to come to my relief in 
the difficult problem before us, as I 
ain satisfied that they are in fault of 
all such troubles having existence at 
all. If, however, it be true, that the 
hair of the dog will cure his bite, I 
might agree to accept the remedy.— 
Opinions of unmspired men should 
never be taken as absolute facts, and 
opinions even of inspired men, as 
merely opinions, do not amount to 
absolute facts, still F would prefer 
their opiniens to those of such Luther- 
ans and sects, as think they can con- 
secrate bread and wine, and adminis- 
ter the Lord’s Supper to themselves. 
Such no doubt could soon supply the 
defect of the after dasher or the after 
sprinkler, even if he would fail to dash 
or sprinkle the water after using the 


22 


words. 


himself? 


In regard to the above mode or 


manner of baptizing (if it really be 
baptizing, viz.: to use the words while 
the water is not being used, except it 
may be in the case of the Baptist 
where the subject has put himself or 
herself in connection with the water 
by wading into it, when the “ wpper 
dipper” uses the words and then dips 
the upper part of the subject under 
the water, or sometimes only nearly 
$0, aS 1 have seen, and sometimes 
when failing, leaves it so, and at 
others, the Baptist minister becomes 


an after dasher, by quickly throwing | 


a little water with-his hand on the 


part which did not quite get under) I | 


am not as yet able to decide with ab- 
solute certainty. I give it as my 
opinion though, however little my 
opinion may be worth, that the upper 
dipper would have somewhat the ad- 
vantage, as he, in his error, as to the 
mode, would be doing all he could, 


have used the water 
simultaneously. 


“ MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


Why not let the individual | baptizing element or 
dash or sprinkle the water on himself} subject seems to accord | 
with the same propriety, that a man | teaching. 
can administer the Hely Supper to 


Baptist, as you deny that he has the. 


Bible mode at all. 
pressly understood that I do not pat 
so much stress on the mode, as to 


make it the only, and the all-import- 


ant, thing, unless it could be shown 


that it is absolutely required that the | 
In 
this event I should be a positive stick- | 


water be sprinkled on the subject. 


ler for sprinkling, and would not allow | 


the least variation. Sprinkle, falling 
upon, shedding forth, pouring out, 


Well, I wish it ex- 


i 
| 
\ 


| 
| 


washing, &c., are given as the Bible | 


mode; in a few words, applying the 


~The earthl 
baptism is water, the heavenly e 
ment is the name of the Triun 
Now, the Baptist has two mod 1 
is right and the other wrong, — as he 
applies the words to the subject, and- 
then applies, as his part of the labor, 
in using the water, the upper part ot — 
the body to the water. Now, as ‘the ‘ 
Baptist contends so stringently for 
only one mode, and that must be im- 
mersing, he cannot well be excused 
for his duplicity in using two modes, — 
unless he can show that the words of 
the institution are no part of baptism 
at all. Now, the sprinkler, or after 
dasher, may claim that he has some- 
what the advantage of the upper dip- 
per in that he firstly applies the words 
to the subject and some short time 
after this he goes through another 
process in sprinkling or dashing some 
water on the subject. Now, provided 


' these two distinct acts can both be 


regarded as one act, I will admit that 
it may be counted tor baptism. But 


then the upper dipper may claim a 
while the other would not, as he could | 
and the words | 
But some one will. 
say, you yield a little too much to the - 


preference, as he uses the proper mode 
too in applying the heavenly element 
to the subject, whilst the subject 
stands connected with the water, and 
then by a different mode he puts the 
upper part of the body under the 
water. Now, if this will be taken as 
one ministerial act of administration, 
I, in my poor limited powers of dis- 
cernment, will have to let if pass as 
readily as that of the after dasher.— 
And probably it should have some 
preference, as the subject was in con- 
nection with the water when the words _ 
were applied in his case. The reader 
certainly sees that we have reached | 
nothing positive yet as to whether 
either of the above errorists has cer- 


counted valid to those who have been 
imposed upon by the erring ministers 
or sects, especially when they have 
turned away from them, and have 
embraced the teachings of God’s 
Word, and can have no minister to 
venture to baptize them in proper 
order. 
| Right here, I believe that the true 
minister will become accountable if he 
fails to do everything in his power to 
relieve such persons in distress. But 
what can either the minister or the 
subject converted from his error do, 
ifit could not be decided positively 
whether he had been baptized or not ? 
If the minister would venture, he 
would lead the subject to make the 
same venture. What shall we say, 
then? Well, I believe that 1 would 
not be held accountable as a minister, 
neither do I believe that the subject, 
converted to the trath, who might be 
trembling at God’s Word, would be 
lost, but would most assuredly be 
saved, as under such circumstances 
there would be no possibility for either 
the minister, or the convert, positively 
to know what todo. Both, in my 
judgment, had better stand still and 
see the salvation of God, as I do not 
believe that God would hold me ac- 
countable for not baptizing the indi- 
vidual whileI had no revelation to 
direct me, and thesame conclusion 
would I make for the convert who had 
seen his error and now trembled at 
God’s Word and. contends for it as it 
is revealed in the Bible. But some 
venturesome, wise, charitable, but 
after all foolish simpleton, who re- 
gards baptism as a “trivial ordinance,” 
doubtless would make sport of us and 
say, it matters not whether the words 
and water are nsed simultaneously or 


ee 


ee 


tainly administered a valid baptism | not, it is baptism any way. Well 
ornot. Still I do think it will be ac-} prove this, and all difficulty is re- 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 23 


y) 


moved. Now. Ido not want-your opin- 
ion as proof, I have opinions too. I[ 
think too, that, to the sincere convert 
to the true mode or manner of bap- 
tism’s Bible form, that it will be im- 
puted to him, or her, as baptism. 
Well the above venturesome, wise, 
foolish administrator would say, why 
are yon not satisfied then, to take it 
as baptism in due form. I reply, 
simply, because I would have to con- 
sider myself as big a fool, as the above 
described administrator, who puts his 


| opinions on an eqnality with Divine 


Revelation. I have already given my 
opinion as to how I think it will be 
counted to the sincere convert to the 
truth, &e., and I confess that it is the 
best I can give, and I comfort myself 
for failing to baptize such persons as 
already indicated. Now, if any one 
can give me something more substan- 
tial than as stated above, I will thank- 
fully receive it. 

I think I have already proven to an 
absolute certainty that immersing is 
not the Bible mode of baptism, but 
will, notwithstanding, yet briefly ap- 
peal to the prophetic declarations 
found in the Word of God; and lastly, 
consider the figurative language, as it 
is called, Rom., ch. 6, upon whieh 
some rely as evidenee for immersion, 
and thus close. It will not be neces- 
sary to have a different chapter. 

We have already established the 
fact that an application of the bap- 
tizing element to the subject is in ac- 
cord with Holy Writ; our object, 
therefore, in appealing toa few pro- 
phetic statements yet, is not so much 
to prove our position, as being a fact, 
but rather, if possible, to make as- 
surance doubly sure. 

Our blessed Redeemer says, Luke 


24 


24, 44,—“that all things mast be ful- 
filled, which were written in the law 


of Moses, and in the prophets, and in 
the Psalms concerning me.” Now, it 


is absolutely certain that it stands 
written concerning him, in Isa. 52, 15, 
—“so shail hesprinkle many nations.” 
It is certain that this receives its fal- 
fillment in the grand commission re- 
corded in tae 28th chapter of St. Mat- 
thew; if not, it never has been, and 
never will be, fulfilled while time con- 
tinuwes. Christ, the great Shepherd of 
souls, has been fulfilling this propheey 
ever since the Commission was given, 
“to teach all nations, baptizing them,” 
&e. 
his divinely appointed ministers — 
Now, asthe Baptists are trying to 
dip, instead of sprinkle, which is con- 
trary to said prophecy, is it not mani- 
fest that they are in confliet with the 
prophecy; and, hence, are none of 
Christ’s ministers, unless he intends 
to contradict his own prophetic state- 
ments. “The Lord hath made bare | 
his holy arm in the eyes of ail the na- 
tions; and all the ends of the earth 
Shall see the salvation of our God,” 
—v.10. We see that all the ends of 
the earth were led to see the salvation 
of our God, by the grand cemmission 
of our Savior ; and it was through this 
Same commission that the fifteenth 
verse took, and is still taking, its ful- 
fillment, by teaching “all nations, 
baptizing” — for it stands written: “So 
Shall he spriukle many nations.” Let 
us then keep this in mind, that where 
baptism is administered properly by 
sprinkling, that this prophecy is being 
fulfilled; but where dipping is prac- 
ticed, the prophecy is contradicted, 
and even the claim of total immersion 
by the minister is found to be untrue, 
as the minister only gets the upper 


part of the subject under the water ! 


He does this, however, through | 


:] a ee 
ten: “So shall he 
many nations,” we 


to "eos oene tae ie or en, is 
| proper mode of baptism; such, how 
| er, as are determined not Sion se 


common sense to omen to 
| duce stronger testimony, to establish — 
| the fact. I wish it understood, 
fore, that we do not appeal to « 
| texts to prove this fact, as that which | 
is as clear as it can be, cannot 
made clearer. ete 
I will, however, appeal to another 
nanehena statement to show that. “e 
i ee e many plain evidences to: alae? 
| lish the same facet, without relying up- 
on presumptive evidence, although we 
admit, that good presumptive evi- 
dence goes far in establishing a fact. — a 
We feel assured that we haye the best — 
presumptive evidence, as also the 
plainest direct ‘eve to wipe 


| aes to the enna whilst the 
not even a shadow of evidence to 
tablish immersing or Hee 
mode of Christian baa to be 
found in the Bible. - 

In Ezekiel, chapter 36, v. 25, it 
stands written: “Then will lSPRINK- — 
|LE clean WATER upon you, and ye — 
Shall be clean,” &c. Now, if it were © 
written, “Then will I dip, or immerse 
you in clean water,” &¢., we who — 


practice the mode of sprinkling would — 
wa 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 25 


be so severely lightning struck, that we | comes that they will not “abide in un- 
would not have life enough left to belief,” God will graft them into the 
hear the Baptist thunder-clap, which good Olive Tree again, from which 
would follow; as it would give the|they were broken in consequence of 
misty clouds, which were sprinkling | unbelief. This Olive Tree, or church, 
down the water, such a jolt, that they | is nothing else than the Kingdom of 
would be turned into rivers, creeks, | God spoken of by Jobn 3, 5, and else- 
ponds, lakes, &c., in which we would where, and in order to enter the king- 
be so immersed, as never to be able | dom of God they must be born of wa- 
to see them sprinkle any more! The | ter and of the Spirit, or they cannot 
words in the above text, namely, | get in. So says the blessed Savior, 
“Then will | sprinkle clean water up-|and soit must be. This water and 
on you,” &c., has reference to New | spirit mentioned, John 3, 5, is holy bap- 
Testament times, as clearly so, as the | tism, as aside from baptism there is 
one in Isa. 52,15. It refers to that per- / no ordinance mentioned in the New 
iod, when the Jews shall be grafted | Testament where water is used’ in 
into the church, the Olive Tree from | which such ends are accomplished. 
which they were broken on account of and such blessed promises and assur- 
unbelief. See Rom.,11thch. Wealso | ances are given. Ezekiel’s prophecy, 
learn from this Scripture, that the | ch. 36, 25, takes its fulfillment in re- 
period in which the Jews will be graft- | gard to the house of Israel, when they 
ed into the church, hence, sprinkled | are led to embrace the Savior, Jesus 
with clean water, and cleansed from | Christ, as revealed in the New, Testa- 
their filthiness, isa period far down in /ment. Then, and only then, will they 
the Christian dispensation, even after | be led to regard the language of the 
the fullness of the Gentiles shall have blessed Savior recorded in Jobn 3, 5, 
come in, or as St. Paul words it, Viz.: | which is to submit to, and gladly re- 
—“that blindness in part is happened | ceive, Holy Baptism, as commanded, — 
to Israel, until the fullness of the Gen- Matth. ch. 28, which, in view of salva- 
tiles be come in.” We learn from Ez. tion, concerns all nations, Jew as well 
36, 24, that they were to be taken from | as Gentile. And, as the Jews, in their 
among the heathen, and gathered out | return, have the promise set forth in 
of all countries, and brought into their | Ezekiel: “Then will I sprinkle clean 
own land. Now, they could not be | Water upon you and ye shall be clean,” 
gatbered out of all countries before | &e., it is evident that they will be 


_ they were scattered, and their disper- | cleansed with the means spoken of 


sion only fully took place when the | under the New Testament, as St. Paul 
city of Jerusalem was demolished, as | teaches us, Eph. 5, 25, 26,—“Christ 
predicted by our Savior; and never _also loved the church, and gave him- 
before that time, nor since that time, | self for it; That he might sanctify and 
has the house of Israel realized the | cleanse it with the washing of water 
precious promise predicted of them in | by the word.” The mode of applying 
the twenty-fifth verse. And they will | the water in this washing, is positive- 
not realize it, nor see it, until they are ' ly foretold as taking place by sprink- 
brought to acknowledge the Savior, ling, as the texts in Ezekiel and Isaiah 
as revealed to the world in the New | plainly state. 

Testament. Then, when the time' Iam fully satisfied (and I think 


every Bible reader must be), that no 
intelligent Israelite can for one mo- 
ment entertain the idea of being 
dipped, or immersed, when the proph- 
ecy of Ezekiel is fulfilled upon the 
house of Israel, as dipping would be a 
positive contradiction of the prophecy. 
As we are fully assured that there is 
no evidence in Divine Revelation 
whatever, by which it can be proved 
that immersing or dipping is @ mode} 
of Holy Baptism, hence by no means 
the mode nor the only mode, we 
would add no more. But, as some of 
the Baptist ministers and members 
seem to rely almost altogether on 
Rom. 6, 3-5, and Col. 2, 12, we are 
requested by some friends to show 
whether these texts do, or do not, 
prove that dipping or immersing is, 
after all, the proper mode; and also to | 
examine the justice of their position in 
regard to close communion. 

In regard to these texts, which 
speak of being buried with Christ in 
baptism, much has been said by Bap- 
tist ministers to ridicule those who 
follow the Bible mode, and sprinkle 
the subject, 

In a discussion I had with the! 
“Wandering Pilgrim,” in the town of 
Lincoln, N. C., Dee., 1851, this Pil- 
grim, as he styled himself, told a tale, 
as follows; whether it realiy occurred 
or not, I do not know. He said ther& 
was a certain man who had a number | 
of geese, and one of them died, and 
he told bis son to go and bury if. 
His son took the dead goose and went 
out in his father’s field, near a hedge- 
row, and laid it down and throwed a 
few handfulls of earth on it. His 
father, in a short time after, saw 
what his son did, and rebuked him 
for his disobedience. The son replied 
that he had buried the goose after the 
mode tiat some ministers bury their 


subjects when baptiz 
sprinkling a little wa 


say that the goose is buried? — 
there was some laughter. In 


we raised the question, saying, ‘sup- 
pose the son, as above ordered, had 
dug a grave for the dead goose 99 
feet deep, and then put the goose to 


the bottom of it, and then filled it 


with earth to the very top, and also 
had made a high mound on the top of | 


the grave, and thenif he had taken 


the goose out of the grave, and laid 


her on top of the ground by the side 
ot the grave; we then raised the 


question, can any sensible person say 


that the goose is buried? This caused 
many cheers and laughter, too. Well, 
we thought we had the better side of 
the arguinent; we thought too, that 


we had answered (a wise man, nay) 


a fool according to his folly. We 
have often met with similar ridicule 


from the Baptists, and have seen, too, — 


that such sport, with many, often 
goes farther than solid argument. 
Such stories as the above goose story 
have, no doubt, led many individuals 
into the clutches of the Baptist sys- 
tem, where a suitable repartee did 
not interfere. 

Now I wish it understood that I do 


not regard Rom. 6, 3-5, and Col. 2, 
12, as proving any shine of baptism — 


whatever. It is a misconstruction of 
St. Paul’s language, so to interpret 
it. Neither is the language figura- 
tive. It is a plain statement of a 
divine reality. A statement as easy 


of apprehension as any other state- — 
ment requiring to be accepted and — 
fact well known by — 
every intelligent baptized Christian. 
The plain wording of St. Paul clearly — 


believed,—a 


indicates this—“know ye not,? &e. 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


27 


The mode of administering baptism 
was, in no respect, the view that St. 
Paul intended to convey to the 
Romans and Colossians, in the above 
chapters and verses. It positively 
was never intended 
Christ’s crucifixion, death, and res- 
urrection, as is pretended to be done 
by leading a person into the water 
waist deep, and then throwing the 
upper part of the body backwards 
into the water. To pretend that 
such a mode of dipping an individual 
isan emblem, or a picture, or a rep- 
resentation of the crucifixion, death, 
burial, and resurrection of 
Christ from the dead, is so ridiculous, 
impertinent, shamefully defective, and 
inapplicable, that I am astonished 
that ever any sensible person coul: 
have been moved to have such a con- 
ception fastened on his or her mind, 
or that any sane mind could have Lhe 
face to offer it for consideration to 
any Bible reader. 


Indeed, a burial is spoken vf as the | 


result of baptism, but to make bap- 
tism the burial, and burial baptism, 


baptism is immersion and immersion 
is baptism, is so absurd, that no in- 
telligent idea can be drawn from it. 
What similitude is there between 
the crucifixion and death of the 
Savior, and the leading of a man or 
woman into the water waist deep? 
Does such an act portray the erucifix- 
ion and death of Christ? (!!) But, 
says the Baptist, at that period we 
dip the person under, and thus we 
‘have an emblem of Christ’s burial. 
I wonder!!! Was Christ thrown 


down backwards ‘from the cross into | 


the sepulchre!! And then was he 
raised the next moment to keep him 
from being (drowned) dead, and then 
buried? Or was he buried alive? 


to picture off 


Jesus | 


| 


ithe effects of, 
as Baptists do when affirming that | 


We will ask immersionists, why 
they do not leave their subject buried 
till the morning of the third day, and 
thus make their similitude a little 
more similitudy? Shall I ask pardon 
for rather coining the word “similitu- 
dy 9») 

Is it possible to fix any similitude 
between the lifting or raising of a 
person out of the water (at least to 
his feet) by the muscular powers of a 
man, and the resurrection of Christ ? 
I suppose they look pretty much alike 
in the eyes of the dipper!!! 

If the text is viewed as figurative, 
it by no means supports the theory of 


immersing, but rather that of pouring 


or Deasion ; for, as the death of Christ 
and the forgiveness of sins are imput- 
ed to, applied to, or upon the sinner 5 
if baptism bea sie or an emblem 
thereof, the baptizing element must 
be applied, put upon the subject. But 
when we view the text in the light of 
its natural construction, as the whole 
connection shows, it proves neither 
mode of baptism, but presents us with 
and the obligations — 
from, baptism. Col. 2, 12— 
“buried with him in baptism, wherein 
also ye are risen with him through 
the faith of the operation of God, who 
hath raised him from the done” 
The text is certainly a parallel pas- 
Sage to Rom. 6, 3-5; and, hence, what 
is trae in regard to Rowians is also 
true in regard to Colossians. St. 
Paul does not teach us that baptism 
is a burial, but only the instrument 
of a burial. Baptists make no dis- 
tinction between a burial and an in- 
strument ofa burial; otherwi ise, they 
would not affirm that immersion is 
baptism, and baptism i is Immersion ; 
thus, making baptism immersion ; 
ener making mode baptism, and 
Bajptisth mode. Baptism, in this 


arising 


event, would be all mode, and there- 
fore no baptism, or it would be all 
baptism and no mode, and thus bap- 
tism would have no mode at all; for 
it would be as much mode as baptism, 
and as much baptism as mode, for the 
one is precisely what the other is, as 
there is no distinction made between 
the mode and baptism itself; he, 
therefore. that is baptized is moded, 
and he that is moded is baptized. 
On this principle, then, burial and 
mode are one and the same thing; 
hence, when reading Colossians 2, 12, 
according to this Baptist position, 
instead of reading—“buried with him 
in baptism,” &c., read: Moded with 
him in mode, &c., or immersed with 
him in immersion, &c., or buried with 
him in a burial, &c. Now Baptists 
must admit that there is a difference 
between the mode of baptism, and 
baptism itself, or such nonsense must 
cleave to their position. 

Baptism must certainly have a 
mode, as the mode of doing a thing 
must be distinct from the thing done, 
as we have already shown that a 
thing may be done by different modes. 
Baptism must be the result of a Bible 
mode of administering it; hence, the 
mode of baptism is not baptism at all, 
but only a manner ora mode of ad- 
ministering baptism. There must 
therefore be a mode by which it is 
administered, and this administered 
ordinance is the means of grace by 
which we are baptized ito Christ’s 
death, as it is written,—“that so many 
of us as were baptized into Jesus 
Christ were baptized into his DEATH.” 
Not baptized into baptism, but “into 
his death.” The conclusion is: 
“Therefore we ARE buried with him 
by baptism into death;” (baptism 
being the burial instrument; then, if 
there be a figure, it is found in what 


‘MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
4 = 


may. be regarded as asi 
lows in the 4th verse)—“that 
Christ was raised up from the 
by the glory of the? Father, ev 
we also should walk in newness 
life.” i “ts aed 

A simile may run from the lower to 
the higher, aud then, again, a simile 
may be carried from the higher to the 
lower; that is, there may be an as- 
cending scale and a descending one. 
The ascending simile begins with a 
well known fact to the finite mind, as 
in Rom. 7, in regard to the law of 
marriage among men, and carries the 
similitude up to the mystie union be- 
tween Christ, the bridegroom, and 
the Church, his bride. In such simil- 
itudes even the unregenerated or un- 
inlightened mind may be led to see 
some rays of light, but, in the descend- 
ing similitude, it requires a different 
cast of discernment. In the descend- 
ing scale, the unregenerate, uninlight- 
ened mind is not capable of appre- 
hending the character of the illustra- 
tion or similitude. In Rom. 7, the 
similitude begins with a well known 
fact to those who know the law, and 
ascends to a grand, mystical fact, 
which is revealed in the Gospel. The 
simile in Rom. 6, begins with the 
mysterious, inscrutable death of 


Christ, and descends to illustrate to 


the baptized Christian the fact that — 
he must die in the direction that 
Christ died. Christ died to put an 
end tosin, he did not die in sin: 
“For, in that he died, he died UNTO 
sin once; but in that he liveth, he 
liveth unto God,” Rom. 6,10. The 
similitude in Rom, 6,5, begins with 
the likeness of his death (Christ’s 
death, most assuredly); hence, those 
who “are buried with him by bap- 
tism into death” are designed to 
die a death after the similitude, or 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


29 


“the likeness of his death,” which is | 


@ death UNTO SIN, not in sin,. for 
Christ never died in sin, and never 
was dead in sin, and as a divine, 
eternal personality, incarnated, it was 
an absolute impossibility for him to 
die in sin, neither can it be said in 
truth, that his death was a sinful 
death. His suffering and death were 
holy and innocent. 1 Pet. AALS £19! 5 
ch. 3, 18. Nevertheless, he died unto 
sin. 

Who can comprehend tie nature 
and character of Christ’s death? Did 
Christ die a “spiritual death on the 
cross” as Rey. Leroy McWherter, A. 
M., affirms in his work, entitled the 
“King of Glory’—page 81. To die 
Spiritually is to become alive to that 
which is evil. Did Christ, in dying, 
become alive to that which is evil? 
I answer, most emphatically, no. I 
deny, in the face of all opposition, 
that Ohrist died a spiritual death, 
In view of the importance of Christ’s 


great sacrifice we may truly say:| 


“For such an high priest became us, 
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, sepa- 
rate from sinners, and made higher 
than the heavens;” &c. Heb. 7, 2, 27. 

Christ did not die in sin, like Adam 
and fallen spirits died ; indeed, they 
died a spiritual death, which resulted 
in their helpless ruin. If Ohrist had 
died in sin which is the same as dying 
@ spiritual death, the result would 
have been most awful. He was a 
holy, harmless sufferer. 

The similitude, or likeness of the 


baptized Roman Christians (as also | 


all baptized Christians) takes its like- 
ness from the death, burial, and res- 
urrection of Christ; so St. Paul puts 
it in the 4th and 5th verses of Rom. 6. 
It is not drawn from being waded into 
the water waist deep, and then thrown 
backward into the water. Such im- 


mersing is in no respect a likeness of 
Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. 
To fix such a simile on St. Paul’s lan- 
guage is nothing but bosh, though it 
has been so viewed by men of great 
abilities. I most positively deny that 
such is the import of St. Paul’s lan- 
guage. The “LIKE As,” and “the 
LIKENESS OF,” are not found in the 
“wade and dip in the water.” Nota 
word or phrase is to be found in Paul’s 
language, which will bear the con- 
struction of, “like as dipped in the 
water,” or, “the likeness of being 
dipped under the water, as a Baptist 
dips,” or anybody else dips, is a “like- 
ness of Christ’s death, burial, and res- 
urrection ”!! No, not one bit of such 
stuff can with any propriety be at- 
tached to St. Paul’s language, Rom. — 
6, nor any other place in his writings. 
The plunging mode is as ancient as 
Roman Catholicism and has passed 
down through it to the present day, 
and doubtless it may have existed at 
a very early day after the Apostles, 
for the mystery of iniquity was at 
work already during St, Paul’s lite 
time, 2 Thess. 2, 7. Roman Catholies 
at this day sanction “plunging,” al- 
though Baptists say that the mode of 
sprinkling was hatched in Romanism. 
If the Baptists will tarn to the Roman 
Catechism, p. 181, entitled “The Poor 
Man’s Catechism, or The Christian 
| Doctrine Explained,” they can see the 
statement as follows; they Say : 
“There are three ways of baptizing, 
all of them valid; as by sprinkling so 
as to wash; by pouring or effusion; 
and by plunging.” Their ceremonies 
at baptism are quite numerous, see 
the same catechism, pages 183 to 186. 
Their emblems are too numerous tu 
be given in detail here. We will re- 
| mark firstly, that the party to be bap- 
tized is brought to the church door, 


and that hapalee gives entrance into 
it. 2d. The priest asks the name of 
the subject, &e. 3d. He breathes in 
the subjects face three times. 4th. 
He makes the sign of the cross on the 
forehead, &c. 5th. He blesses salt | 
and puts some of it into the mouth of 
the subject to signify, &c. 6th. The 
priest proceeds to read the exorcism | 
commanding the wicked spirit to de- 
part, &c. Tth. He lays the stole upon 
the person and leads it into the church 
to receive baptism, &c. 8th. The | 
priest repeats the exorcism as before. 
9th. He touches the ears and nostrils 
of the party to be baptized with spit- 
tle, &c. There are eight other signs | 
connected with the administration of 
baptism which we have not the time | 
even briefly to designate. 

Doubtless many of these signs or 
representations existed ata very early 
day after the Apostles, and were re- | 
garded as being necessary to a valid 
administration of baptism; all of 
which are about as necessary repre- 
sentations as immersion. The act, | 
however, of leading the subject into | 
the water, and, then, throwing what | 
remains out of the water, backwards | 

‘into the water, so as to get it under | 
for probably half a minute, has as lit- | 
tle foundation in Scripture, as breath- 
ing in the subject’s face three times, 
or blessing salt and putting some of 
it in the subject’s mouth—touching the 
ears and nostrils of the party to be, 
baptized, with spittle, &c., &c. In 

the earlier formularies of the Roman 

Catholic Church, immersion as a rep- 

resentation of Christ’s burial, &c., 

was advocated. Luther, too, at a/ 


very early period of the reformation 
also, so regarded it, while still using 


conceived. tee wipe en i 
long so regard it; for we see that 
in 1523, when using the formula | 


drew up, exclusively maintained the 


idea of applying the baptizing ele- 
ment to the subject. Immersing as a 


mode of Christian Baptism, is an an- 
cient departure from the Bible mode 


of baptism, (as there is not a shadow 
of testimony in the Bible to sustain 
the plea of immersing), and has, doubt- 


less, had its existence with false teach- 


ers, ever since the mystery of iniquity 
began to work; and this same em- 


blematic representation of immers- 


ing, has come down through Rome, 
and still exists there, as one of the 
valid modes. ee 


Let us now, if possible, take into — 


consideration the 6th chapter of Ro- 
mans more minutely. In every gen- 


eration men have existed who were — 


disposed to put imagination to its ut- 
most stretch, taking, as we would style 
it, motto texts and foreing ideas into 
them, which had no place there; and 


sometimes trying to foree something — 


out of them which never was in the 
‘text. Others there have been, who 


have taken texts, containing doctrines — 


so sublime and full of saered facts, 
which they wished to explain, simply 
through their own imaginary powers, 
who resorted to illustrations and com- 
parisons which were in antagonism 
with the facts contained in the texts. 


A person having selected a text, con- - 


taining the most mysterious truths, 
let him not undertake to furnish a key 
out of his own imagination to unlock 
the divine treasure. 
the text itself ang its connection, with 


other parallel ones, and he will be — 


Let him look to — 


likely, by prayerful search, to find the 
divine key to unlock the sacred treas- 
ure house, and he will, at least, be en- 
abled to see in a proper and truthful 
way, some of the grand things there- 
in contained, although he may never 
be able to comprehend them. But 
when we are put or placed in the right 
way of looking at the facts, we may 
then continue to advance and learn 
more, without contradicting what we 
were first enabled to apprehend.— 
Where this is not the case, individu- 
als may ever be learning and never 
come toa knowledge of thetruth. God 


will give to those who seek to find the 


truth as he has revealed it. Butsuch 
as pile wood, hay, and stubble on His 
Word, to say the least, will suffer loss. 


Romans 6th is a divine treasure | 


house of sacred truth, needing no bu- 
man imagination to cover it over with 
fanciful emblems and representations : 
Especially sach awkward, nonsensical, 


inappropriate representations and em- | 


; blems, as to make the leading ofa 
person into the water waist deep, and 
then to plunge the upper part of the 


: ' 
person backwards into the water, and 


then in less than @ half minute, lift the 
person on foot again, and all this to 
amount to a likeness of the death, 

| burial, and resurrection of Jesus 
— Christ!!! !!! Is it possible that it is 
St. Paul’s design to have persons to 
figure out by their immersing a sub- 
ject as has often been stated, to form 


a picture of the death, burial, and res. | 


urrection of Christ? Such a picture 

could be more intelligibly made on pa- 

per or canvas, and hung up in some 

conspicuous place where our eyes 
could often be cast upon it. 

Or even if a sepulchre could be cut 
in a body of water, and a water CROSS 
could be fixed up, on which to hang 
your subject till it expires, and then 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


31 


| take it down and put it in your sepul- 
chre, which was dug out in the water, 
and then rolla great water a gainst 
the door of this sepulchre, sealing it 
too, leaving it (the subject) also in this 
Sepulchre tilt the morning of the third 
day, and then raise this subject up 
alive; I say, that if you could do all 
| this, it would not harmonize with the 
ideas set forth by St. Paul; as it would 
invert his statement altogether. To 
| be in the likeness of Christ’s death as 
St. Paul puts it, does not imply that 
the baptized subject has pictared off 
a likeness, so that Christ’s death must 
conform to the likeness of the emblem 
| of the water crucifix, the water burial, 
and the resurrection out of the water 
on the third day, by the resurrecting 
powers of the Baptist preacher. If such 
was St. Paul’s design, then I must con- 
fess that I am not able to discern any- 
thing at all. St. Paul would be caused 
| to say that Christ’s death must be in 
the likeness of the figure formed by 
dipping a subject, as a Baptist preach- 
| er has shaped it by dipping his sub- 
| ject. Then St. Paul should have said : 
Know ye not that so many of us as 
| were dipped in the water, were dipped 
to form a likeness of Christ’s death 2 
“Therefore”’—ete., ete. 


According to St. Paul, the baptized 
subject is regarded as being in the 
| likeness of Christ’s death, and the 
| death which Christ died was a death 
unto sin, Rom. 6, 10, not in sin, and the 
baptized subject is baptized into the 
death of Christ, vy. 3., that like as 
| Christ died unto Sin, so the subject is - 
to be in the likeness of Christ's death, 
| hence, must also die after the likeness 
; of Christ’s death, and whilst the per- 
son is in the likeness of Christ’s death, 
he is dying as Christ died, which is a 
/ death unto sin, not in sin 3; and he who 
‘ dies unto sin, with sueh individual, 


32 


the body of sin is being destroyed, for 
if we have been planted in the like- 
ness of His death we shall alsé& be in 
the likeness of His resurrection. This 
is not an emblem of death, and an em- 
blem of a resurrection, but the death 
and resurrection are both realities, a 
real dying unto sin, and areal resur- 
rection to divine life. To invert St. 
Paul’s statement is no trivial error. 


Christ took on human nature,— | 


“that through DEATH he might de- 
stroy him that had the power of death, 
that is, the devil; and deliver them 
who through fear of death were all 
their lifetime subject to bondage.” 
Christ’s death is unlike any other 
death that ever took place; His death 
is meritorious, which is not the case 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. — 


Father, even so we al: 
in newness of life.” The 
is also indicated in the 5th — 
shall be also in the likeness « 
resurrection.” Paul then gives ad 
tional statements of the results a Se 
benefits arising from the relation | ; 
brought to view for those “baptized 
into Jesus Christ,” beginning at the 
6th verse to 14th, which the reader is 
requested carefully and prayerfully to — 
read. In all this there is no indiea- 
tion, nor the most distant hint of dip-— 
ping an individual under the water 

in order to furnish a likeness of 
Christ’s death, burial, and resurrec- — 
tion! How in the name of common Fae 
sense can an individual draw a pic- 
ture of a “death-destroying death,” “a 


with the baptized believer's death. ; death-abolishing death”—a “death un- 


It is true, however, that in one partic- 
ular, the baptized Christian, by virtue 
of being baptized into Christ’s death, 
dies after the (or in the) likeness of 
Christ’s death, His death being a 
death “unto sin,” not in sin, and as 
a result also of being baptized into 
Christ’s death, which was a death 
unto sin, the believer, who is baptized 
into Christ, is also in the likeness of 
His resurrection; as a death unto sin 
results in a new life. To be baptized 
into Christ’s death, and to be buried 
with Him by baptism into death—and 
to be planted together in the likeness 
of His death, are. expressions which 
signify the very same thing. ‘The 
result then of this, (“baptized into 
Jesus Christ,” and the,—“were baptiz- 
ed into His death,” v. 3,and also the,— 
“are buried with Him by baptism 
into death,” v. 4, and also the: “For if 
we have been planted together in the 
likeness of His death”), is set forth, be- 
ginning in the 4th verse, at the words: 
“that like as Christ was raised up 
from the dead by the glory of the 


to sin,” by putting the upper part of, 
a person’s body backwards under the 
water? (!!!) Surely an individual 
must be hard ran, when trying to 
shape an image of Christ’s death, — 
burial, and resurrection, by such a 
dip, or plunge under the water. There 
is no more likeness between such a 
plunge, and Christ’s death, &e., than 
there is between a goose and a horse. 
To entertain the idea that St. Paul's 
language was penned down in order 
to lead anyone to try to imitate, or to 
bring about a likeness of Christ’s 
death, by dipping a person under the 
water, as Baptists do, is so silly, and 
so contrary to the facts which St. Paul 
gives us in that chapter, that Iam 
astonished, when thinking of it, that 
any one would offer such a represen- 
tation as a likeness; if it could at all 
be construed as a likeness of His 
death. St. Paul, in this chapter, does 
not allude to baptism with any design 
whatever of teaching the Romans 
anything in regard to the mode of 
baptism. This was not at all His 


Z 


ject. His object was to admonish 
them to steadfastness in their baptis- 
mal vow. He had already, before 
this Epistle, tanght them the 
gn of baptism, and also the rela- 
tion they were in to Christ, by virtue 
of their baptism ; otherwise he would 
not haye said, “Know ye not that so 
many of us as were baptized into 
Christ, were baptized into his death,” 
&e., which clearly shows that they 
had, before writing his Epistle to 
them, a knowledge of the nature and 
design of baptism. 

In the preceding part of this Epis- 
tle, St. Paul was laboring to confirm 


central doctrine of justification by 
faith, over against the false teachers, 
who lived then and in every age 
since. We say there were Christians 
in Rome before this Epistle was writ- 
ten, to whom this Epistle was address- 
ed, as any one can see by reading the 
Ist chapter, 7th verse, who had a 
knowledge of the doctrine of justifica- 
tion, as also of the import of huly bap- 
__tism; for St. Paul did not teach justi- 
fication ora plan of salvation inde- 
pendent of, or aside from, holy bap- 
tism. As a specimen, as to how St. 
_ Paul associates baptism with justifi- 
ation, any one can readily see by 
reading Titus 3, 5, 6, 7. 
We are assured that 


__ Romans, to admonish the Christians 


to whom he addressed this Epistle, to | 
lead a Christian life, presenting to | 


them the most inscrutable death—the 
only death through which a death 
unto sin could PossIBLy take place ; 
mark what we say; do not regard 


Christ’s death as an ordinary death, | 
—it is INSCRUTABLE, no finite per- 


sonality, whether angelic, or merely 
human, could ever have died a death 


MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


the Roman Christians in the great | 


it was St, | 
Paul’s object in the 6th chapter of | 


like Christ’s death, a death unto sin. 
Who ever can, let him criticise me on 
this subject. Now, a death in the 
likeness of Christ’s death, every son 
and daughter of Adam must die,. if 
ever they are saved. I also affirm 
that no son or daughter of Adam can 
| Possibly die a- death unto sin, with- 
| out being put or inducted into Christ’s 
death, through which death alone 
| the redeemed is gifted with grace, so 
/as to die unto sin; and there is no 
|revealed means by which we are 
‘brought into Christ’s death aside 
‘from holy baptism. “Know ye not 
| that so many of us as were baptized 
into Jesus Christ were baptized into 
his death? Therefore we are buried 
| with him by baptism into death: that 
| like as Christ was raised up from the 
| dead by the glory of the Father, even 
| SO we also should walk in newness of 
\life. For if we have been planted 
together in the likeness of ‘his death, 
| We shail be also in the likeness of his 
| resurrection: Knowing this, that our 
old man is erucified with him, that 
| the body of sin might be destroyed, 
| that henceforti. we should not serve 
sin.”—Rom. 6, 3-6. 

The period of time that Christ was 
engaged in dying sin unto death, be- 
| gan with bis ecracifixion, and ended 
_when he expired on the ecross—He 
could die no farther, nor any longer. 

The period through which the bap- 
| tized Christian dies unto sin, begins 
with his baptism into Christ’s death, 
and ends when he draws Iris last 
breath. Sinless perfection is not 
fully reached by the Christian while 
‘he is yet living in this tenement of 
| clay, but dies daily unto sin till he 
expires, and in death realizes uninter- 
rupted happiness, where sin and 
death can distress him no more. There 
is positively nothing in Romans 6, 


j 
} 
I 
| 
I 
f 


a 


nor in Colossians 2, which at all fa- 
vors, even in the least, the idea that 
the mode of baptism is immersing, 
neither is there anything to show 
that baptism is immersion. 
asa burial instrument, may be proven, | 
for the reason that St. Panl teaches | 
us that we are buried -into Christ’s 


death by baptism; baptism being the 


burial instrument, but how the sub- 
ject ever can be buried into the burial 
instrument is amazingly strange, and 
so contrary to fact, that it would re- 
quire nothing but bewildered minds 
so to see it. But, one will say, in Col. 
2, it is said, we “are buried with him 
in baptism, wherein also ye are risen 
with him through the faith of the op- 
eration of God,” &c. But tlie object- 
or will say, in Romans, St. Paul uses, 
“by baptism, and in Col. he uses, in 
baptism, and this implies to be under.” 
Well, indeed, in Col. <, “in,” is used 
in the original, and in Rom. 6, es, 
“by,” is used. But a Baptist will 
contend that e- (eis) in other places, 
means in, hence under. But when 
do these two prepositions differ in 
meaning, and when are ‘they of the 
same import? We would presume 
that this difference, and also the 
sameness of import, areregulated by 
the will and pleasure of the Baptist. 
Let us briefly examine this Baptist 


sham. Suppose we admit for argu- | 


ment sake, that in is the only correct 
translation of «y (en) in Col., will it 
then prove that baptism is immersion ? 
Baptism, as mentioned in the 12th 
verse is,—“the circumcision,” men- 
tioned in the 11th verse—“not made 
with hands.” This circumcision, 
which is not made with hands, brings 
the subjects so circumcised precisely 
in the same relation to Christ as bap- 
tism does, spoken of in Rom. 6, hence 
it is nothing more nor less than bap- 


Baptism “fn 


is too ‘bine to = ee { ait 
Spas as pee il eee 


led ae see that he must erber 
reading of Romans too, or bis sham 
of a fancy is lost, whieh he Laon 
| Rom. 6. 


correct rode “a admit that ‘ae 
translation, both in Colossians and— 
Romans, is not objectionable tome) 
does it necessarily follow, that if a 
person is in, or is brought into, a 
thing, that the mode of operation was _ 
applied to every part of the body, 
while the person was being brought 
into, just liikea Baptist conjectures, — 
that the subject, in order to be baried — 
in baptism, must have the waterto 
go all over the body of the sabjeet, or — 
he could not be in it! As a paradigm, 
we will refer to the language of this — 
same Apostle Paul, Rom. 4, 10, where | a 
he is inquiring after the blessing | - 
given to Abraham, viz.: “How was — 
it then received? when he was in cir- _ 
cumcision or in uncireumeision? Not 
in circumcision, but in uncireumcis- 
ion.” It is evident that Abraham — 
was once in uncireumeision, and itis — 
also evident that he was afterwards — 
circumcised, hence, he was also in — 
circumcision. The mode of cireum-— 
cising, and circumcision itself, were — 
jhot identically the same. Neither — 


_ MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


of a knife, or sharp stones; if this, 
however, bad been the mode, then 


i the body would have been Berally 


wounded all over; just as in the case 
of immersing, cae the body is 
_ covered all over, for it is claimed that 
the mode is immersion, and immer- 


water brought in contact with every 
part of the body, for it must be total, 
or the individual is not baptized, nor 
IN BAPTISM!! 

Now, on the same principle, I cau 
prove that no one is circumcised, and 
cannot therefore be “in circumcision,” 
(for to be in a thing implies to te 
totally covered over in it) unless the 
mode of operation is brought in its 
action to cut all over the subject, and 
then the subject would be in cireum- 
cision; heuce totally cirenmecised!!! 
Circumcision was, however, 
plied to a part of the body, and Abra- 
ham, as to his entire person, was then 


fully or totally in circumcision, not- | 
withstanding, he was not operated | 


upon with the cireumcising 
ment all over the body. 


instru- 


Our conclusion is, that baptism is | 
By it we are | 


the burial instrument. 
buried into Christ's death, we are 
therefore buried with him in baptism ; 


we must, hence, by baptism, be plant- | 
ed in the likeness of’ his death, and to | 


be in the likeness of his death, is to 


die unto sin, and to die unto sin is to | 


rise from spiritual death, and to be 
brought into spiritual life, which, in a 
very brief way St. Paul sets forth in 
Col. 2,12, but describes it at length, 
esataiiis at the 10th and ending with 
the 14th verses. 
the reality of things,as God has re- 


only ap-. 


Let us hold fast to! 


| 


as the action of its performance a | vealed them to us in his Word, and 
‘cutting, or a scaritying of the body all 
over, whether it was dove by the use | 


not conjure up emblems and represen- 
tations with a view of seeing these 
sacred things, as we may see “straw 
in a bag,” or as we can see a person 
thrown backwards under the water! 

The making of Tepresentations, or 


emblems of God himself, is of very 


ancient date, and prevails to an alarm- 


ing extent to this day; and we see 
sion is the mode, and that no one can | 
be in baptism, without having the | 


the result of persons following their 
vain imaginations,—“their foolish 
heart was darkened ”—Rom. Live 


_ So too, the holy sacraments of Baptinas 
_ and the Lord’s Supper were” represent- 


ed as emblems, &c., and still are so 
represented, and held as shadows of 
things not at all connected with them. 
The mode of baptism is regarded by 
some aS a necessary emblem of the 
crucifixion, death, burial, and resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ!!! How the 
leading of a person into the water, can 
represent Christ's death; and then 
the plunging under the water, can 
represent his burial; and then the 
lifting of the person up again froin 
under the water, by the museular 
powers of a man, can amount to a 
likeness of Christ’s death, burial, and 


| resurrection, is passing strange. 


We, however, have allowed more in 
this last emblem than is due the “like- 
ness-maker;” tor he only resurrects his 
subject about half way; he only gets 
it on its feet, leaving it to complete 
the emblem of the resurrection of 
Christ by wading the lower part out 
of the water. But if wading into the 
water would be a complete emblem or 
likeness of His death, then wading out 
of the water, it seems, should also be 
a complete emblem or likeness of His 
resurrection.. The inquiry would then 
arise, what part of the emblem or like- 
ness ee the act of the minister play 
in lifting the subject on foot in the 


5 


zs 


water? Doubtless fhis is regarded as 
forming the likeness of His resurrec- 
tion. But the wading out, is the op- 
posite of wading in, and if ee in 


out Teh repeeuas oeaseeet ake — 
Well, how is it? It seems there are! 
two likenesses arising out of the last | 
operation, and after putting the best | 
polish on all of them as a likeness of} 
Christ’s death, burial, and resurree- 
tion, if will not amount to as complete 
and omeble a likeness of these things, 
as could be drawn from the cireum- 
stance of seeing little boys riding 
astride of sticks, imagining that they 
have as real horses as men and boys 
have when riding real horses. 

Once more, in conclusion of our re- 
marks on the mode of baptism, let us 
advert to the language in Romans, so 
much relied upon by Baptists, to sus- 
tain the idea of immersion. Doubtless 
such as may feel themselves criticised, 
and have no disposition to be con- 
vineed of their error, would as soon 
see no more. I, however, am sorry 
that 1 will have to close after giving 
only a bird’s-eye view; though some 
may think I have been quite prolix, 
and lengthy, also. 

Our object has been to keep the 
subject constantly before the mind, 
So as, by a variety of plain illustrations, 
to lead the untrained person to think, 
for whose benefit we have been mainly 
laboring, I would, however, invite | 
the more fully trained in thought, once 
more with me to look at Romans 6, 
and its parallel in Colossians. 

The cause of the failure to obtain 
St. Paul’s idea, lies in this, namely, 
that the character of Christ’s death is | 
not understood in the proper light. 

When men affirm, as Rev. L. Me- 
Wherter and others do, in regard to 
Christ’s death, viz.: that he died a 


if 


Coe hence, pie 


spiritual acatun it 
the subject, that no 
thing to be admired : 


as there could be no battle 
would result in a curse. — 
If Christ’s death was a spi 
i death, he must have died in si 
would certainly be am ay 
and fora person to be bap 
Christ's death, and thus be found 
the likeness ae Christ’s death, 
would also be a death in sin, a 
that would make one shudder; ek, 
death in sin, or @ spiritual ceatineltes 
the one so dsm into the very ee ed he 


life, and the devil’s life is apintiiel = 


death. A creature, living in moral 
evil, is one of the most iti crea-— 
tures. aes 

With such a conception of Ohrist’s 
death, and the death the baptized: | 
would be in, would be so awful, thatI 
am assured, that if I knew that that . 
kind of a likeness was the one I was’ 
going into by being baptized, I would 
shun baptism, as the very gates of 
hell, whether it would be administered 
by sprinkling or immersing. May the | 
good Lord ever deliver us from spirit- 
ual death, and also from a baptism — 
that would bring the subject into the 
likeness of a spiritual death. On the 
other hand, may the good Lord keep 
us in our baptismal covenant. May 
the Lord Jesus enable us to “know”?— _ 
“that so many of us as were baptized 
into Jesus Christ were bapa into 
his death.”—Rom. 6, 3. 

Baptized into the death of Him 
whose death was a “death unto sin.” 
—Rom. 6, 10. 

The desired likeness, to be obtained — 
by being baptized into Christ’s death, 
is a likeness of His death, which is a 
death unto sin, for Christ’s death was — 


_ 4 = *< 
OP tes - : . : : 


| MODE._OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 


‘dea h unto sin.”—Romans 6, 10. | spiritnal death is a devil-like-death, ie 
am sure that the devil does not! and also a devil-like-life, a ea 
want to See, nor to hear so much repe- But, one will ask, were not the sins 
ition about Christ’s death, for he well | and iniquities of the whole world laid 
- knows that it was through Christ’s}on Christ? Was he not “made sin 
‘death that he was destroyed, and de-} for us, who knew nosin ?"—2 Corz5, 21. 
_ liveranece of the captives from under To these questions, I answer most em- 
his dominion was procured, as it is | phatically, yes. Many.more texts to 
written: “Foras mucii as the children | the Same purpose can be quoted. 
are partakers of flesh and blood, he Still, all such texts will not prove that 
also himself likewise took part of the! He died a “spiritual death.” No such 
Same; that through DEATH he might thing. He was personally and intrin- 

destroy him that had the power of sically holy and just.—1 Pet, 3, 18. 
death, that is, the devil; And deliver| In order to obtain my views more 
them who through fear of death were ; fully—whether in regard to bodily, 
all their lifetime subject to bondage.” | spiritual, or eternal death; and also 
Ee. 2, 14, 15. my views in regard to Christ's death, 
The death of Christ! Who can) and the effects thereof, I refer the 
comprehend it? For shame sake, and | reader to my two sermons, the one on 
to avoid simulation, (which is the very “Immortality,” and the other, on 
least we could make of it,) do not “Christ’s Descent Into Hell,” 
think of it as a spiritual death, tor 


| 
{ 


; ee hess 


, 


ERRATA.—Page 4, Ist columm, Ist line at top, for “continue 
Page 9, 1st column near the bottom, after the reference to A 
3, 16, continue by reading—nothing can be gained by further 
Page 11, 1st column, gth line from bottom, read fade, inst 
page, 2d column, 14th line from bottom, for S=#appevov, read Bsfay 
Page 12, 1st column, 18th line from bottom, make the same cor 
Page 35, 1st column, 2d line from bottom, for ‘‘14th verses,” rez 
There are also a few inaccuracies in punctuation on different pages 
reader will correct. They, however, are not of such importance as mat 
sense intended. i 


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